New York Nature Centers

Discover nature in New York’s millions of acres of wilderness, or come to a New York nature center and see so much more in one spot.

Explore marshland, lakes, and ponds at Buffalo’s Tifft Nature Preserve, a 264-acre refuge with five miles of trails and boardwalks perfect for bird watching.  Rogers Environmental Education Center offers woodland and wetland habitats for the hiker, bird watcher, snowshoer or cross-country skier with vast views of the Chenango Valley. Just north of Syracuse, Beaver Lake Nature Center has nine miles of trails, 200 species of birds and 800 varieties of plants. Jamestown’s Audubon Community Nature Center is a 600-acre wetland preserve with gardens and nature trails, interactive displays and live animal exhibits.

At Baltimore Woods in Marcellus, six miles of hiking trails are open every day from dawn to dusk, and snowshoes are welcome in winter. The Emma Treadwell Thacher Nature Center at Thompson’s Lake State Park features a honeybee observation hive, bird viewing and fossils while Wellesley Island’s enormous Minna Anthony Common Nature Center offers bald eagle watching on Eel Bay, a butterfly house, and guided hikes through this 600-acre peninsula in the St. Lawrence River.

Long Island teems with wildlife from the Quogue Wildlife Refuge to Hoyt Farm Park Preserve, which puts you face to face with endless bird species. With 54 acres of trails, Sweetbriar Nature Center, by Smithtown’s Nissequogue River, is a sweet retreat with wildlife and gardens, a butterfly house and nature summer camps for children. Shelter Island’s Mashomack Preserve is as remote as Long Island gets, with 11 miles of easy hiking trails through woodlands, marshes and creeks where you can spy osprey, foxes, harbor seals and terrapins.