1
Stoney Pond State Forest
Managed by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
1,455 acres18.8 mi of trail
Trail 1Trail 11Trail 25Trail 19Trail 6
Dogs allowedMapped in OpenStreetMap
Outdoors · Nelson
Nelson, NY parks, trails & bike paths
About 23% of Nelson is conserved land, roughly 6,399 acres. There are about 33 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Stoney Pond State Forest (18.8 mi), Tioughnioga WMA (9 mi), and Nelson Swamp Unique Area (0.6 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Nelson, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Nelson outdoors
Conserved land
23%
6,399 of 28,025 acres
Trails
33 mi
0.7 mi per sq mi · 31 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
4
3,625 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
0.0 mi
0.0 mi lanes · 0.0 mi off-road paths
Conserved land is a share of the whole town area. Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number or a place below to zoom in© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Parks & preserves with trails
Ranked by mapped trail miles. Directions go to the nearest marked trailhead or public parking.
2
Tioughnioga Wildlife Management Area
Managed by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
3,353 acres9 mi of trail
Link TrailOnondaga Trail
Dog rules not recorded
3
Nelson Swamp Unique Area
Managed by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
771 acres0.6 mi of trail
Dogs allowedMapped in OpenStreetMap
No trailhead mapped yet
Website
4
Morrow Mountain State Forest
Managed by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
38 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Website
Who protects the land
6,399 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 218 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes0.0 mi
- Off-road bike paths0.0 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi
Courts & fields
- Baseball1
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Next door
Nelson and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nelson | 22.8% | 32.5 mi | 4 |
| Cazenovia | 11% | 19.8 mi | 13 |
| Georgetown | 18.9% | 13.2 mi | 5 |
| Eaton | 0.6% | 1.6 mi | 0 |
| Fenner | 1.6% | 4.9 mi | 3 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Nelson's trails yet. Muddy, icy, a bridge out, where to park: a quick post helps the next person.
Sources: trails, parks, preserves, courts and bike lanes © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), map data as of 2026-09-28. Conserved land: USGS Gap Analysis Project, Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). Measured against the Census town boundary.
How we measure
"Trails" are OpenStreetMap paths, bridleways, public tracks and unpaved footways, plus footways inside a park or preserve or on a named trail route. Sidewalks are left out. Areas are counted on a 22.2-meter grid, so overlapping parcels count once. "Conserved" includes conservation easements, which protect land from development but are usually private property. Trailheads are the nearest marked trailhead, public parking lot or information board within about 150 meters of a preserve. Dog rules come from OpenStreetMap when someone has tagged them; otherwise we show what's typical for the land manager, or say the rules aren't recorded.