New Yorkers' love for nature is pretty apparent in the ways we try to understand our environment. Nature education centers all over the state let you and your family get closer to nature, so you can explore and understand the natural world. See how plants and animals depend on each other as you walk through real habitats and preserves. Learn from exhibits and guided ecological tours.
The Adirondack Park has two visitor interpretive centers. The
Paul Smiths center opens up its butterfly house in the warm seasons and lets you explore wetlands habitats by canoe, while the
Newcomb center offers trail tours and birding walks led by naturalists.
The Wild Center, also in the
Adirondacks, has a 31-acre campus with both indoor and outdoor ecological exhibits.
Hudson Valley's
Stony Kill Farm will give you a unique environmental education experience at its historic working farmstead surrounded by woodlands. You'll find out how life was interwoven with the environment at an eighteenth-century farm. In the
Finger Lakes, trails at
Rogers Center crisscross its 600 acres, which offer a variety of habitats for hikers and birdwatchers. During the winter, you can also go snowshoeing and cross-country skiing there.
In western New York, the
Cumming Nature Center has several themed trails running through its 900-acre preserve. One overlooks a beaver pond, and another goes along a reconstructed 1700s homestead. The
Minna Anthony Common Nature Center in the
Thousand Islands-Seaway region overlooks a prime duck migration area and offers seasonal wildlife sightings programs.