Tifft Nature Preserve is a 264-acre nonprofit nature refuge dedicated to conservation and environmental education. Go to www.TIFFT.org to learn more about visiting Tifft Nature Preserve! The Preserve was created in 1972 from land purchased by the City of Buffalo for a landfill site. Concerned citizens recognized the ecological importance of the site and convinced the city legislators to plan for the area’s preservation. The completed landfill incorporated many safety measures, allowing the land to have a new purpose, a nature preserve which opened in 1976. The land that comprises Tifft Nature Preserve has a fascinating history. It was once part of a huge dairy farm owned by George Washington Tifft and later became a transshipment center, primarily for coal and iron ore. During the 1950’s and 1960’s, Tifft's land was a dumpsite for city refuse. Tifft began its transformation to a nature preserve in the 1970s. Nearly two million cubic feet of solid municipal waste was enclosed in clay and covered with soil excavated from another section of the Preserve. Ponds were enlarged, and trees and wildflowers were planted. Conservation of Tifft’s large cattail marsh helped attract a variety of animals. In 1982, Tifft Farm Nature Preserve became a department of the Buffalo Museum of Science. Its name was later changed to Tifft Nature Preserve, to better reflect its purpose as a preserve rather than a farm. Today, Tifft Nature Preserve maintains a natural setting. Animals from the entire region take advantage of its ponds, marshes, grasslands, and woodlands. It has become the urban sanctuary many people envisioned over thirty years ago. Tifft's Visitor Center can be reached at 716.825.6397 or www.TIFFT.org.
