The Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy's 77-acre Cassadaga Lakes Nature Park provides two moderately developed trails for hiking, biking, and birding, or snowshoeing and cross-country skiing during the winter:
- an easy loop (0.8 miles)
- a center loop (1.8 miles)
- These overlap each other near the parking area but then separate to provide a shorter, flatter trail on the easy loop and a longer more rolling terrain hike on the center loop.
- Easy loop trails are marked with orange markers and center loop trails are marked with blue markers.
The park also has a wildlife viewing platform with benches and a bird blind location on the edge of Mud Lake as well as a welcome kiosk pavilion near the entrance and parking area. Cassadaga Lakes Nature Park protects 1,100 feet of Cassadaga Lakes’ shoreline. The site includes 26 acres of high ecological value lake front wetlands as well as 51 acres of rolling forest covered terrain that is mostly hemlock and white pine, which is ideal habitat for all kinds of birds, frogs, salamanders, snakes and waterfowl. More than 175 species of birds have been identified there, making it one of the most diverse birding sites in Chautauqua County.
Location and Parking: Located on the south shore of the upper Cassadaga Lakes basin in Chautauqua County, the preserve can be easily accessed from NY Route 60 off the unmarked spur road across from the south end of Ulrich Park Road (located between Camp Gross and Tim Horton's). A small parking area accommodates about six regular sized vehicles.
Features of Interest: The preserve is bordered on the west by Upper Cassadaga Lake. The land is currently undeveloped and forested, with a “beaver pond” at the back of the center loop trail. Seasonal pools along the trail host frogs and salamanders and the park includes a view out across a small glacial kettle lake called Mud Lake.
No other facilities or amenities are provided on site. There is no easy access for fishing from the site as most of the shore is dominated by emergent swamp impenetrable on foot or by boat. Birdwatching, botanizing and nature walking are all common uses for the trails and forests.
SPECIES OF INTEREST:
Trees: Red Maple (Acer Rubrum), Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum), Yellow Birch (Betula allegheniensis), White pine (Pinus strobus), Hemlock (Conium maculatum)
Shrubs: Spice bush (Lindera benzoin), Witch hazel (Hamemelis virginiana)
Understory: eastern skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), royal fern (Osmunda regalis)
Wildflowers: marsh marigold (Caltha palustris), purple trillium (Trillium erectum), jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), trout lily (Erythronium americanum), false hellebore (Veratrum viride), Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora)
Birds: common loon (Gavia immer), belted kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon), hairy woodpecker (Picoides villosus), Screech owl (Megascops asio)
Amphibians: red backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus)
Cassadaga, NY 14718
716-664-2166
www.chautauquawatershed.org/cassadaga-lakes-nature-park
info@chautauquawatershed.org