Skip to main content
Work is beginning in removing invasive buckthorn as part of the East Canal Ecological Renovation project. Trails may be closed daily, including Service Rd (south), Snakeroot Tr, Old Tifft St, Mosquito Jct Bdwk Tr, and Mounds Bypass. For your own safety, please heed all trail closure signage as heavy equipment is at work.

Giving

EDUCATION CENTER HOURS:
Loading...

Not Your Typical Nature Preserve

SUPPORT TIFFT TODAY

The once cattail marsh was used as farmland in the mid-1800s and during Buffalo’s industrial heyday the property became a transportation hub for coal and iron ore. How did the land transform from a city dump to a thriving nature preserve?

Concerned citizens recognized the value of the site and convinced city leaders to preserve the land. Through their vision, the dumping ceased, the garbage was covered and sculpted into mounds, and Berm Pond was created to benefit the marsh birds. Barrels of hazardous industrial waste were removed from Lake Kirsty, and in 1999, open water areas were created in the cattail marsh. 

Tifft Nature Preserve is here today because of advocates like you.

Today, the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences manages Tifft Nature Preserve, and it is the urban sanctuary many people envisioned more than 20 years ago. On any given day, the 264 acres of the Preserve are filled with families observing painted turtles in the marsh, school children learning about animal adaptations in the Darling Environmental Education Center, and birding groups trying to catch a glimpse of a rare migrating bird above the trails. 

Our goal at Tifft is to cultivate the environmental stewards of today and tomorrow by providing opportunities to connect with and gain an appreciation of the natural world. Your investment provides school children, families, and adult learners access to hands-on environmental educational programming and outdoor experiences.

Show Your Support

Ways to Give

Philanthropy Circle

Corporate Giving