Cayuga Nature Center
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| Established | 1981 |
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| Location | 1420 Taughannock Blvd, Ithaca, New York |
| Visitors | 25,000 |
| Director | Warren Allmon |
| Website | www.cayuganaturecenter.org |
| Ithaca Discovery Trail | |
The Cayuga Nature Center (CNC) is an educational institution addressing nature and environmental issues. It is located on the west side of Lake Cayuga in Tompkins County, New York.
CNC traces back to the Cayuga Preventorium, which was a tuberculosis sanitarium founded in 1914. As tuberculosis cases diminished, the Preventorium turned to cardiac cases. In the 1930s, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest T. Paine donated 75 acres of land at the current CNC site to serve children recuperating from cardiac and other debilitating illnesses. In 1939, the Works Progress Administration built the 10,000 sq ft (930 m2) main building on the site. The Preventorium closed during World War II, and after the war, Cornell University used the facility for student housing. Decades later, the Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) used the site for outdoor education programs. Based on the success of the program, BOCES, Onondaga Nature Centers, Inc., and the Ithaca Public Schools joined to form the center in 1975. The CNC was incorporated in 1981.
CNC experienced funding difficulties, and in January 2011, CNC and the Paleontological Research Institution agreed to merge, with programs continuing at both locations.
CNC offers classes and camps focusing on nature appreciation and environmental issues. Programs are available for all ages from kindergarten to adult and cover subjects as varied as maple sugaring and wilderness survival skills. Classes typically feature six weekly one-hour sessions. Day camps are held in winter, spring, and summer. CNC also offers "TEAM Challenge", a rope climbing / rope bridge course.
Visitors can view a six-story tree house, a seasonal butterfly garden, a turtle pond, and exhibits in the main lodge building. The lodge is heated by a biomass furnace designed and installed as a Cornell engineering student project. Thirty animals are kept in captivity as a zoological collection. The center includes a 120-acre campus with five miles of hiking trails three miles south of Taughannock Falls State Park on the west shore of Lake Cayuga.
CNC is a part of the Ithaca Discovery Trail.
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