It’s been nearly one month since Chad Schwartz and Brian Birchak took over as co-directors of the Lehigh Gap Nature Center.

Located just off Route 873 and down Paint Mill Road in Slatington, the organization’s expanse sprawls more than 700 acres, encompassing a once-desolate mountain decimated by decades of pollution at the hands of the New Jersey Zinc Co. Back in 1983, that same area was deemed a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site.

Nowadays, Lehigh Gap’s main center — its Osprey House — sits nestled between two tree-covered peaks; its upstairs level is where Schwartz and Birchak have made a new home for themselves, exchanging the surrounding mountainous trails for an indoor office.

Before they became co-directors, Schwartz and Birchak headed much of the center’s educational programs, through which it reaches thousands of students each year.

“There’s a split now in where our attention needs to be spent,” Birchak, who was hired as a program specialist at the center a little over two years ago, said.

“We’re kind of realizing that, in order to grow, we can no longer do education full time.”

The Lehigh Gap Nature Center was founded nearly 20 years ago by a former high school biology teacher named Dan Kunkle, who orchestrated the land’s purchase and eventual revegetation. Kunkle, who retired from the position of director in December, reflected on his two-decade long tenure one October night last year.

He said the center’s creation required a dedicated team of people, and that he looks forward to spending his newfound free time traveling.

“It’s time for me to start enjoying what I’ve tried to protect all my life,” Kunkle said.

But while he no longer acts as the director of Lehigh Gap, Kunkle has retained the title of director emeritus. He’s spent the past few years training his two replacements, upping the ante in January of last year by promoting Schwartz and Birchak to the positions of director of science and education and director of communications, respectively.

Schwartz and Birchak both started at the nature center as volunteers — Schwartz as a Whitehall High School and college student and Birchak as an adult who grew up in the Palmerton area. “We both had this place in our hearts,” Schwartz, who was hired about three years ago, said. “So, by the time we were hired, we’d already known quite a bit about it.”

Despite their familiarity with the center and its operations, Schwartz and Birchak said working at the gap and running it are two very different things. But the last month has allowed them to settle into their new positions, even if they still have a few things to learn. “We’re getting there,” Birchak said.

“We’re attacking this now, in 2020, realizing that we have a better handle on it.”

And they’ve already started formulating future goals. They hope to expand the center’s programming without overloading its four paid employees and team of volunteers, increase their presence in Allentown and grow their membership base.

“Grants pay for a lot of stuff,” Birchak said. “But the foundation of that membership support is a huge part of it.”

At the forefront of Schwartz’ mind though is keeping the history of Lehigh Gap Nature Center from becoming a distant memory to its guests. It may be a conservancy now, but just a few decades ago, the land encompassing Lehigh Gap was a wasteland — a bleak eyesore no one really knew how to remedy.

“We realize that a lot of people are forgetting our story here, because they see a green mountain,” Schwartz said.

“Kids who come here on field trips don’t even know what this place used to look like.”