We had a mild winter’s day, and wanted to give our year and a half old son some fresh air.  So, we decided to take him for a walk along the boardwalk at the Lewis A. Swyer Preserve.  We had a beautiful winter walk that heightened the senses and energized the whole family.  Even on a winter’s day, it was a wonderful way to spend some family time together and be closer to the nature that we love so very much.

Lewis A. Swyer Preserve

The Lewis A. Swyer Preserve is a 95-acre preservation area maintained by the Nature Conservancy.  The preserve is centered around Mill Creek and is one of the few freshwater tidal marshes in the whole of New York State.  In fact, there are only five of these freshwater tidal marshes located within the state, and all are located along the Hudson River. Below Peekskill, the water in the Hudson is saltwater.  Up until Poughkeepsie, the water in the river is a mixture of salt and fresh water.  Above Poughkeepsie, and in the Lewis A. Swyer Preserve, the water is fresh.  Still, the water in the Hudson River rises for high tide twice a day, including the freshwater at the preserve.  This type of setting is an environmental rarity and quite fragile.  The Nature Conservancy selected this site to protect the plants and animals that thrive within the freshwater tidal marsh.

Boardwalk

The boardwalk was constructed to allow visitors a chance to glimpse the wildlife within this freshwater tidal swamp without hurting the fragile ecosystem around it.  The boardwalk takes you from the road down to a tower overlook just before train tracks.  One way, the boardwalk is half a mile and traverses water outlets, plant life, and animal trails.

Tower Overlook

A small overlook tower is located at the end of the boardwalk, and provides visitors with a 360 degree view of the area including the Hudson River, intertidal mudflats, and the freshwater tidal marsh.  An informative sign tells of human influence on the surrounding landscape.

Wildlife

Because of the rare nature of the freshwater tidal marshes, there is an intricate, yet fragile network of plants and animals that live throughout the preserve.  Informative signs tell how the plants here have adapted to be able to survive being constantly submerged underwater during high tide.  On our winter visit, it was relatively quiet, except for several chickadee birds that sang their songs and flew by us.  We saw evidence of beavers, though no beavers themselves.  We spotted  several gnawed up tree trunks, well worn paths, and a beaver dam along the creek shore.

Where is it Located?

The Lewis A. Swyer Preserve is located off of Route 9J in Stuyvesant, New York, on the east side of the Hudson River.

Map

A wonderful map of the preserve can be found on the Nature Conservancy’s website here.

For information on other Nature Conservancy walks, feel free to visit my pages about the Lisha Kill Preserve and the Stewart Preserve.