The parking area View Map for Derway Island Nature Preserve is adjacent to the Burlington Wastewater Treatment Plant. (Use this link when navigating to the parking.)

The Delta Park Important Bird Area includes two parks managed by the Winooski Valley Park District: Delta Park and Derway Island Nature Preserve.

Derway Island in Burlington is actually not an island but a peninsula. The park is a 148-acre nature preserve acquired with help from The Nature Conservancy, which maintains a conservation easement over the land. For an urban area, the extent to which the ecological communities and systems are intact is unusual. The property also supports several rare species and significant plant communities. Derway Island is largely timbered with several excellent shrub swamps and an emergent marsh on the western edge. The dominant trees are red and silver maples, elm, ash, birch, and cottonwood. Buttonbush is the principal species in the swamps.

The diversity of wildlife is high because of the varied plant communities found in a relatively small area. Songbirds are numerous, and it is an important area for wading birds. Osprey and other birds of prey have been sighted as well as a variety of ducks. Larger mammals, such as beaver, muskrat, raccoon, fox, otter, mink, and deer are also known to use the area.

The watery channels within this Nature Preserve are important breeding areas for several species of fish from Lake Champlain such as northern pike and chain pickerel. The isolated nature of the land makes it an important stop for migrating birds.

About Delta Park Important Bird Area
Delta Park is a sandy wetland delta at the mouth of the Winooski River where it flows into Lake Champlain. The park contains several acres of lakeside marsh, swamp, sand beaches, and bottomland forest. Vermont Natural Community types include Lake Sand Beach, Shallow Emergent and Cattail Marsh, Lakeshore Grassland, and Buttonbush Swamp.

Delta Park is a migratory stopover for many species of birds. The juxtaposition of wetland, bottomland forest, and lake and river ecosystems provided a diversity of habitat types The shallow water to the south and west of Delta Park are important feeding, wading, and resting areas for species of waterfowl, gulls, terns, and shorebirds. The swamps and marsh areas within the park are home to a variety of nesting and feeding waterfowl. Over twenty-three species of both waterfowl and shorebirds, six species of heron, and several species of gulls and terns including state-endangered Common Terns as well as state threatened Black Terns have all been observed here.

Delta Park represents critical shoreline habitat along Lake Champlain and is protected by the Winooski Valley Park District. In addition to its obvious importance to birds, the boundaries of Delta Park contain a colony of beach pea (Lathyrus japonicus), an endangered plant species in the state. This area is threatened by invasive species including Purple Loosestrife, agricultural run-off, adjacent development, and heavy recreational use. A boardwalk through the site is proposed for construction and once built may reduce human impact on the site.

The AllTrails website has a description with a map of a 1.9 mile hike on the Derway Island Nature Trail.