Mohonk Preserve

The Mohonk Preserve is a 501c(3) not-for-profit organization located in Ulster County, New York, in the Hudson River Valley on the northern Shawangunk Mountain Ridge. Our mission is to protect the northern Shawangunk Ridge and inspire people to care for, enjoy and explore the natural world. Mohonk Preserve supports thriving and resilient natural environments that are welcoming to all who explore, play and work here, and those who seek peace, wellbeing and inspiration amid its lands. We prioritize conservation of the northern Shawangunk Ridge and adjacent foothills as we carefully balance opportunities for outdoor recreation that reflect a healthy relationship between community and the land. Our commitment to collaboration, stewardship and education are interwoven throughout all the Preserve’s responses to the urgent issues of our time as we permanently protect and provide access to this cherished landscape.

In partnership with our members, supporters, and volunteers, we protect and manage over 8,000 acres of mountain ridges, forests, fields, streams, ponds, and other unique and beautiful places. As New York’s largest nonprofit nature preserve, each year we welcome 300,000 visitors, who view the Preserve as a truly special place.

The Preserve’s devoted volunteers, dedicated donors, and expert staff all work in harmony for a common cause – to create a place where people and nature thrive. To accomplish our goal of protecting one of the region’s most treasured and beautiful places, we conduct programs in four key areas – Environmental Education; Visitor Experience; Land Stewardship; and Conservation Programs, which includes both Land Protection and Conservation Science.

At the Preserve, you can enjoy scenic beauty, outdoor activities, and peace and quiet, all just 90 miles from New York City. Our carriage roads and trails are perfect for hiking, running, mountain biking, horseback riding, and cross-country skiing. We’re also the home of “Gunks” climbing and bouldering, and one of the most visited climbing destinations in North America.

Mohonk Preserve prioritizes the use of ecological knowledge to drive land conservation and management decisions. As an accredited land trust and well-known nature preserve, Mohonk Preserve undertakes numerous activities that support our primary mission to protect a large, contiguous portion of the northern Shawangunk Ridge. Management and land acquisition decisions are supported by the Preserve’s legacy of natural history monitoring and the integration of current approaches to conservation and climate resilience. By prioritizing conservation and the incorporation of ecological knowledge, Mohonk Preserve strives to balance human use of the land to retain environmental and cultural integrity long into the future.

We conduct numerous long-term monitoring projects including weather observations (start date: 1896), phenology observations (~1912), ground springs water quality (1930), woodland pool monitoring (1955), breeding bird surveys (1975), lake temperature/clarity profiles (1985), deer-browse impacts on forest vegetation (2017), grassland vegetation communities (2017), and forest health and landscape change (2018). Through our citizen science programs, we also engage with our local community to help us collect scientific data on invasive species, peregrine falcon breeding, phenology, and stream water quality. We are a strong proponent of open-source data; you can find many of our long-term datasets on data repository sites such as Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), Environmental Data Initiative (EDI), and Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative (FEMC), National Phenology Network (NPN), and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).