HOW WE DO THAT

Through education, science and stewardship, we aim to preserve the beauty and biodiversity of our landscape and cultivate a community of nature stewards.

We manage a 1,000 acre preserve that includes the 41-acre Teatown Lake, 7-acre Shadow Lake and 9-acre Vernay Lake, streams, waterfalls, hardwood swamps, mixed forests and meadows.

15 miles of hiking trails open daily from dawn to dusk plus the 6.5 Teatown-Kitchawan Trail.  Trails also connect to the Briarcliff Peekskill Trailway and the Croton Aqueduct Trail.

30,000 each year – Including more than 4,000 people attending our Hudson River EagleFest(sm), Pancake Breakfast and Spring PlantFest.  10,000 people hike our trails annually and twice that amount participate in educational programs and events.

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
20,000+ students participate in environmental education programs throughout the lower Hudson Valley.  Our education efforts include a wide range of classes, lectures and outdoor activities, on and offsite, for children grades K to 12, for families and adults: all focused on nature and the role of stewardship in preserving biodiversity.

• We offer our Nurtured by Nature education program for Head Start centers in the communities of Ossining, Peekskill and Yorktown
• Scholarships are provided for school-aged children in under-resourced school districts to visit Teatown through our No Child Left Inside program
• The teens from our month-long summer science research program – Teatown’s Environmental Science Academy (TESA) which teaches high school students advanced applied environmental science – have won numerous awards for their research including 3 Intel Award semi-finalists and 1 finalist this past year
• We partner with Pace University to teach undergraduate courses at Teatown focusing on hands-on field studies
• We lead the “Environmental Leaders Learning Alliance” (ELLA) – a learning network of 120+ civic leaders from 28 towns and villages
• We founded the “Environmental Monitoring Management Alliance” (EMMA), a network of scientists, land managers and conservationists from 10 organizations across the state dedicated to protecting ecological systems and developing sustainable stewardship practice through research and public participation.

The Nature Center has exhibits with live animals, a Nature Store and revolving art exhibits. Outdoor exhibits include 2-acre Wildflower Island with more than 230 species of wildflower (some rare), Wildflower Woods – an outdoor classroom, a working maple sugar house, bee & butterfly garden, children’s sensory garden and raptor loop trail that includes hawks, owls, kestrels, vultures and a bald eagle.

Postal address: 1600 Spring Valley Road, Ossining, NY, 10562

1963 with 194-acre gift from the Gerard Swope, Sr. family and incorporated in 1971

Each year, 250 volunteers perform trail maintenance, education, animal care, clerical duties and special event assistance for a total of 5,000 hours.