Great Baehre Swamp is a New York state

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

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), New York State. As of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, the population was 954,236. However, in the 2023 census, the Erie County population was 946,147 ...

, 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 Ash is the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash is the ...

swamp of , much of which is protected by

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...

s owned by the town and New York State.

Prehistory and history

The wetlands are a minute remnant of the former Glacial Lake Tonawanda that dominated this region 11,000 years ago. Hopkins Road was originally constructed as a

corduroy road A corduroy road or log road is a type of road or timber trackway made by placing logs, perpendicular to the direction of the road over a low or swampy area. The result is an improvement over impassable mud or dirt roads, yet rough in the best ...

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 Buffalo most commonly refers to: * True buffalo or Bubalina, a subtribe of wild cattle, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo * Bison, a genus of wild cattle, including the American buffalo * Buffalo, New York, a city in the n ...

. 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 The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (informally referred to as NYSDEC, DEC, EnCon or NYSENCON) is a department of New York state government. The department guides and regulates the conservation, improvement, and protecti ...

(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

External links