Buffalo Creek Nature Park

Buffalo Creek Nature Park is nestled between Little Buffalo Creek and the Butler-Freeport Community Trail. Situated at the lower end of the Buffalo Creek Watershed, the six acre site showcases several methods of storm water management and streamside protection and provides space for educational programs. Buffalo Creek Nature Park also offers rental opportunities for birthday or graduation parties, meetings, and family gatherings.

Location

Buffalo Creek Nature Park
154 Monroe Road
Sarver, PA 16055
724-295-3589

Restrooms inside of building, open when the Nature Store is open.

Office hours: Monday – Friday from 9 am – 5 pm
Nature Store hours: Tuesday – Sunday from 9 am – 5 pm

Amenities

Buffalo Creek Nature Park has a variety of ADA accessible spaces including an outdoor covered pavilion, indoor classroom space, restrooms, and Audubon Nature Store. Inside the Babcock Nature Center, visitors can learn more about programs and rentals, fill up your water bottle, purchase a drink or ice cream (in season), and pickup trail maps for the Butler-Freeport Community Trail and Todd Nature Reserve (just two-miles from the park). Next to the Babcock Nature Center is a nature play area, and adjacent to the park is the 21.5 mile Butler-Freeport Community Trail, a popular biking destination alongside Little Buffalo and Buffalo Creeks.

Nature park guidelines

The park is open dawn to dusk 365 days a year, free of charge. Respect plants and animals by leaving them in their natural habitat. Please be respectful of any events that may be taking place on the property.

Pets are permitted at this location but please keep them leashed at all times and clean up after them.

All outdoor activities involve some risk, including falling trees and branches, wet or slippery conditions, and interactions with animals and insects. In using Buffalo Creek Nature Park, you are agreeing to assume those risks.

Consider becoming a member of Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania to help maintain this special place.

Rental information

The spaces at Buffalo Creek Nature Park provide a natural backdrop for meetings, wedding or baby showers, birthday parties, graduation parties, and family gatherings.

Call 724-295-3589 to learn about our event spaces.

Available rental spaces:

Classroom

An open space with full windows on both sides overlooking the park and Little Buffalo Creek. This space can accommodate up to 60 guests and is often used for meetings, wedding or baby showers, birthday parties, graduation parties, retreats, and classes. Cost: $300 for four hours; additional time can be added on at $100/hour. Requests for less time can be accommodated.

Pavilion

With Little Buffalo Creek in the background, this outdoor space can accommodate up to 40 people and is often used for meetup groups or as a lunch space for companies or community groups. Cost: $150 for two hours; additional time can be added on at $100/hour.

Hold your birthday party here! Learn more about Audubon birthday parties

We are a smoke free facility – seeing cigarette butts distracts from nature! Contact events@aswp.org for event accommodations and designated smoking area location.

Buffalo Creek Nature Park history

Buffalo Creek Nature Park is a 6-acre parcel of property near Todd Nature Reserve, nestled between Little Buffalo Creek and the Butler-Freeport Community Trail. When the property became available in 2008, ASWP and Buffalo Township partnered to acquire it, with ASWP assisting the township in securing state funding. When the acquisition was complete, ASWP and the Township entered into a long-term joint operating agreement that had ASWP assume the management and development responsibilities for the entire park.

Built with financial assistance of the Babcock Charitable Trust, Babcock Nature Center sits on the foundation of the former Oregon Club Banquet Hall – minimizing ground disturbance near the high-quality designated stream and reusing as much of the former structure as possible. The facility includes a large meeting room, nature store, restrooms, and other visitor amenities.

Environmentally-friendly

Buffalo Creek Nature Park is the headquarters for the Buffalo Creek Coalition and the hub of our watershed conservation work. The adjacent creek provides a great teaching resource and several school districts have made this site part of their annual field trip list. Several community groups conduct meetings in the Babcock Nature Center, including Trout Unlimited and the Greater Allegheny Kiski Board of Realtors.

The fully electric Buffalo Creek Nature Park features a variety of environmentally friendly features: natural light tubes in the store, low flow toilets, and several different CollidEscape patterns for protection against bird strikes on the many windows in the Babcock Nature Center.