Great Baehre Swamp is a New York state

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...

located inside the Town of Amherst in

Erie County, New York Erie County is a county along the shore of Lake Erie in western New York State. As of the 2020 census, the population was 954,236. The county seat is Buffalo, which makes up about 28% of the county's population. Both the county and Lake Erie w ...

, United States. The area is characterized as a

silver maple ''Acer saccharinum'', commonly known as silver maple, creek maple, silverleaf maple, soft maple, large maple, water maple, swamp maple, or white maple, is a species of maple native to the eastern and central United States and southeastern Canad ...

- ash swamp of , much of which is protected by conservation areas owned by the town and New York State.

Prehistory and history

The wetlands are a minute remnant of the former

Glacial Lake Tonawanda Lake Tonawanda was a prehistoric lake that existed approximately 10,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age, in Western New York, United States.Ernest H. Muller (1977)LATE GLACIAL AND EARLY POSTGLACIAL ENVIRONMENTS IN WESTERN NEW YORKAnnals o ...

that dominated this region 11,000 years ago. Hopkins Road was originally constructed as a corduroy road in the early 19th century due to the boggy nature of the soil.

Protected areas

Much of the swamp is protected and accessible to the public. Portions of the southern and eastern boundary of the conservation area are privately owned and permission should be sought prior to visiting these areas.

Billy Wilson Park

Billy Wilson Park, a park owned and operated by the Town of Amherst, is adjacent to the western portion of the swamp. A portion of the park was formerly a small municipal dump for the Town of Amherst from the 1920s to the 1960s; it was remediated and repurposed as parkland in 1989. Billy Wilson Park provides boardwalks and trails for viewing nature within Amherst, which is a well-developed suburb of Buffalo. Conservation of the wetlands is also intended to help control flooding. The entrance to Billy Wilson Park is located on Hopkins Road north of the intersection with Klein Road in Amherst. The park has been adapted to provide assistance to people with disabilities. The park was formerly known as Margaret Louise Park prior to being renamed in 2014 for Army Staff Sgt. William "Billy" Wilson III, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2012.

Great Baehre Swamp Wildlife Management Area

The Great Baehre Swamp Wildlife Management Area is a state wildlife management area operated by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC). The majority of the property () protects shrub swamp and emergent wetlands, with the remainder covering grassland and brush. Parking and access is mainly facilitated through the adjacent Billy Wilson Park on Hopkins Road. The area was acquired by NYSDEC in 1989, and has since been improved with a boardwalk which connects with Billy Wilson Park. The area is managed with the goal of improving wildlife populations and habitat.

References

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