Erie County Parks, Recreation & Forestry

Watch out hiking in the parks today. There have been strange sightings recently.

Our spring flower of the week is the Trout Lilly (Erythronium americanum). These beautiful yellow flowers can be seen blooming in nearly all of our parks. Keep an eye out for a plant with a bundle of two leaves because that means that particular Trout Lily is likely to send up a flower this year. The presence of large groups of this flower in the forest is critical food for early pollinators. To find this flower try to look in areas that have few to no coniferous trees. Deci...duous trees, or trees that drop their leaves in the fall, offer an early spring full sun that the Trout Lily needs to grow. Next you should scout out areas that have been left relatively undisturbed & that have a lot of leaf cover to protect the bulbs of this plant from damage and cold. Once you’ve found some good spots you should look for those smooth, trout-like maroon/green leaves poking up out of the ground. And around mid to late April there should be plenty of Trout Lily to enjoy! Happy hunting! #findyourownadventure #YourErieCountyParks #10000acrestoexplore

Comment below if you know which park contains this bridge?

It seems like one of WNY’s favorite vernal flowers is the Spring Beauty (unofficially according to our Insta & Twitter polls!). There are two species of Spring Beauty found in our parks, the Virginia Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica) & the Carolina Spring Beauty (Claytonia caroliniana). Carolina Spring Beauty has more oval leaves than the other species and is often the kind you’ll find on your hikes. While these small blooms are very beautiful, if you were a bee you might ...see something very different than just a pink and white flower. Our native bees are a type of insect that can see in UV light and the Spring Beauty is one of many flowers that uses UV on their flower parts (in this case the filaments) to direct insects to where their nectar is kept, which they produce a lot of for their size. Keep a look out in the coming weeks for this flower which usually blooms throughout April in this area. #youreriecountyparks #10000acrestoexplore #findyourownadventure

10/22/2020- No carts will be permitted at Grover Cleveland and Elma Meadows Golf Course today due to weather conditions.

10/21/2020- Carts will not be permitted at Grover Cleveland and Elma Meadows today, due to weather conditions.

Tuesday 10/20/20 No Carts at Elma Meadows and Grover Cleveland GC’s today due to conditions.

ATTENTION: Grover Cleveland and Elma Meadows Golf Courses will be closed after 11 AM today due to weather conditions.

Here’s one great reason to keep those leaves that just fell in your yard! This spiky fella is the caterpillar of the Giant Leopard Moth (Hypercompe scribonia). This species overwinters in the leaf litter in your yard as a cocoon and then emerges the next year as this nocturnal beauty! We found this caterpillar in Chestnut Ridge Park but they can be found in many of our parks. You can identify this caterpillar by its large size, black spikes, & when rolled up you can see red s...tripes (like in the photo!) So be kind, and keep those fall leaves around to make a home for these amazing creatures! #youreriecountyparks #findyourownadventure

NOTICE: Ellicott Island Dog Park will be closed today (10/15/2020) for maintenance. The Dog Park will re-open at 4 PM today.

PARK UPGRADES! A special Thank You goes out to Erie County Department of Public Works for prepping the road and parking lots at Elma Meadows Golf Course, so the vendor could come in to complete upgrades to the lots and roads! Stop by soon to check out how great it looks! #YourErieCountyParks

Here are some fall scenes taken recently in our parks! Enjoy and know that there is still so much to see because we haven’t yet reached peak fall foliage! Let us see some of your autumn park pics you’ve taken at our Erie County Parks! #youreriecountyparks... #findyourownadventure See more

The Reservoir at Chestnut Ridge looks beautiful in the late morning. Then again, all of our parks are getting a fall makeover! #youreriecountyparks #findyourownadventure

WHERE IS IT? This should be an easy one. Can you guess which of your Erie County Parks this beautiful photo was taken this morning? #10000AcresToExplore #FindYourNextAdventure

10/2/2020 Carts are not permitted at Grover Cleveland and Elma Meadows Golf Course due to course conditions. The conditions will be re-assessed later this morning.