Description
PLEASE NOTE: Frenchman's Bluff Preserve is open during hunting season (Oct 1 - Dec 22). Written permission is required to hunt on Conservancy lands. To learn about our hunting program or to obtain permission to hunt, please visit our New York hunting information page.
Frenchman’s Bluff Preserve features over nine miles of trails, some of which offer exceptional birds-eye views of the Chemung River 700 feet below. The trails wind through open meadows, wildlife ponds and south-facing shale cliff and talus slopes, as well as eastern red cedar and heath oak forests that feature white, red and chestnut oaks. In the winter, the trail system provides great cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.
Frenchman’s Bluff is an example of The Nature Conservancy’s “conservation through partnerships” strategy. In 1980, 290 acres of the preserve’s original footprint was donated by Arthur C. Smith, Jr. This guaranteed its protection and laid the groundwork for further conservation. In 1990, a 172-acre parcel adjacent to the park was purchased by Tanglewood Nature Center, which increased the preserve's size by 60 percent.
