The second largest open expanse of peatland in New York, Spring Pond Bog Preserve provides a unique habitat for plants and animals found nowhere else in the state.  It contains a patterned peatland with ridges (strings) and wet depressions (flarks).

Why We Work Here

Spring Pond Bog is a peatland composed both of bogs and fens. Bogs rely on water from the atmosphere and are thus poor in nutrients and have low species diversity. Fens, in contrast, receive both surface and groundwater, and tend to be more diverse than bogs. It is vital that we protect areas like Spring Pond Bog because they are essential to the biodiversity of the Adirondacks.

What to See

Animals: The wetlands and surrounding forest are habitat for more than 130 species of birds, including boreal species like spruce grouse, black-backed woodpecker, gray jay, and short-eared owl.

Plants: The bog contains a variety of typical northern bog plant species such as pitcher plant, leather leaf, bog laurel and Labrador tea, as well as several rare species. Plants must adapt to this nutrient poor environment. The pitcher plant actually traps and "eats" insects. The leaves of the pitcher plant form a vase that holds water. Insects that venture in are trapped by downward pointing hairs, fall into the water, and are digested by the plant.

What to Expect

The half-mile trail leads through a hardwood forest, along an esker with views of the spruce swamp, to a point with magnificent views of Spring Pond Bog.  There is also a boardwalk trail through a smaller "teaching bog" off the main trail. Built by volunteers during the summer of 1998, it allows visitors to take an up close look at the bog without disturbing the plants.

A preserve guide is available from the Adirondack Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, the Adirondack Land Trust and at the trail register.

How to Visit

Because it is located beyond a private gate, access to Spring Pond Bog requires written permission. Contact the Adirondack Chapter of The Nature Conservancy or the Adirondack Land Trust for a gate pass.

To prepare for your visit, please read our Preserve Visitation Guidelines.

Directions:  Click here for an interactive map and driving directions.

• From Route 30 between Lake Clear and Tupper Lake, turn west onto the Floodwood Road (just south of the Saranac Inn Golf Course).
• Travel approximately 9 miles on the dirt Floodwood Road, passing through a locked gate (where you must present a gate pass).
• Beyond the gate, at the "T" turn right and travel ½ mile.
• Turn left and travel one mile.
• Trailhead is on the left. 

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Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Carl Heilman II (Spring Pond Bog); Photo © Larry Masters (palm warbler); Photo © Kevin Prickett (gray jay).