Irvington Woods

The Irvington Woods

Irvington is lucky to have the Irvington Woods Park, a 251-acre ecological preserve that comprises nearly 14% of the Village of Irvington, NY. As one of the largest intact forest ecosystems in southern Westchester County, it plays a vital role in regional water filtration, stormwater buffering, and climate regulation. Strategically located at one of the village’s highest elevations and draining into the Hudson River watershed, the park supports seven distinct forest stand types and contains rare old-growth specimens—some over 300 years old—verified through research conducted with

Harvard Forest. In 2024, IWP was formally inducted into the Old-Growth Forest Network, recognizing its biodiversity, long-term ecological value, and community stewardship. Learn more at TheIrvingtonWoods.org

In 2020, the Village of Irvington received a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Urban and Community Forestry Grant to complete a Tree Inventory and Community Forestry Management Plan for the woods (see presentation of it here). The report found:

63,750 trees
$73.3M structural value
$2.68M in carbon storage
$60.8K carbon sequestration
$47.5K avoided runoff
$83.7K pollution removal

The O’Hara Nature Center (ONC) serves as the educational and civic heart of the IWP initiative. The ONC was born out of a 2003 intermunicipal agreement between the Village and Westchester County, which secured the 26-acre Westwood Preserve for parkland under the condition that a nature center be established at 170 Mountain Road. With the help of Congresswoman Nita Lowey, the Village secured a $239,000 federal grant in 2008 through the U.S. Department of Energy. The final funding gap was closed by a $60,000 contribution from the O’Hara Foundation, allowing for the complete construction of the facility. Since its founding, the ONC

has been a hub for environmental education, civic ecology, and youth engagement.

Programs engage local teenagers through after school and summer workshops and science research projects, Girl Scouts, the Garden Club and many resident volunteers for weekend projects.

Since this 2020 report, the IWP has been awarded multiple grants worth close to a million dollars for urban and community forest stewardship

NYSDEC Urban Forest Tree Risk Assessment Grant (Round 15, 2021) – Funded a comprehensive inventory of urban forest assets and hazard mitigation plans.

USDA Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry IRA Grant (2023–2028) – A $433,275 award (with a $433,275 match) supporting regional forest regeneration across Irvington, Dobbs Ferry, and Hastings-on-Hudson (USDA Forest Service, 2023). Irvington’s role comprises 26% of total forest treatment ($154,000 - $225,000), including tree planting, invasive control, deer mitigation, and forest ecology programs centered at the O’Hara Nature Center.

Cornell Cooperative Extension Partnerships (2019–2024) – Enabled technical support and student programming, including the 2022 Cornell Soil Survey and internshipsfocused on pollinator biodiversity and GIS-based forest mapping.

New York Pollinator Conservation Fund (2024) – A $23,150 award granted to the

Village of Irvington to expand and monitor native pollinator habitats across IWP and the O’Hara Nature Center. This competitive award highlights the ecological significance of local species, such as Bombus fervidus (the golden northern bumblebee), and aligns with national conservation objectives.

NYSDEC CoRe Urban Forestry Grant (2024–2026) – A $382,316 award to support

ecological restoration, youth-led monitoring, and civic ecology education in Irvington

Woods Park. This grant funds targeted forest recovery interventions (e.g., invasive

species removal, deer mitigation, and replanting), GIS-based evaluation, and curriculum implementation through the ONC’s Forest Interns program. A local task force leads the initiative and prioritizes community governance, reflecting Irvington Woods’ status as home to the largest remaining wetlands in southern Westchester County.

Stewardship and Education

ONC Community-Based Programming Overview—Overview of the community land stewardship programming from K-12th Grade at the O'Hara Nature Center

The Parks Department's CJ Reilly has led numerous significant stewardship projects in the Irvington Woods and O'Hara Nature Center.

O’Hara Nature Center Programming Overview https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IzuZcVn6W1Xlhkvjznm6dXLQMN-n8Bxe/view
O’Hara Nature Center — Applied Research Program (Harvard Forest affiliation): https://cjreillyiii.com/harvard-forest-school-yard-lter-program
Harvard Forest—Changing Forest Research Project—Long-Term Ecological Research Program on Forest Health and Dynamics (K - 12th Grade).
Cornell/NYSDOT Soil and Pollinator Research Project—Year-long research work with the Cornell Waste Management Institute and Department of Transportation to provide data on native plants and pollinators benefiting from them to develop roadside topsoil seed mixtures.
Vocational Independence Program—Irvington School District—Special education program for middle and high school students based around building vocational skills in landscape management, horticulture, and land stewardship with the Irvington School District.
Peter Oley Trailway System Community Project—Year-long community stewardship project with Irvington youth (K-12) focused on designing and implementing the new color-coded loop trailway system in Irvington Woods Park.
2022 DEC Tree Planting Project and Greater Irvington Land Trust (GILT) Deer Exclosure Grant

Hermits Wetland Overview

Old Growth Forest

A potentially 318+-year-old White oak has been discovered in the Irvington Woods Park. Our O'Hara Nature Center's Director of Education and Head of Grounds and Operations, CJ Reilly, works with high school students to core trees and analyze them. Their research has revealed that we have a lot of White oaks between the ages of 170+ and 244+ years old. In other words, we have old-growth trees in Southern Westchester, which is rare given all the land loss due to farming during the 1600s - 1800s and housing and municipal development during the 1900s - 2000s, so it's quite a gem.

New Trail System

With the support of the Irvington Woods Committee, the Village of Irvington, the Irvington Recreation and Parks Department, the Irvington School District, the Irvington community, and volunteers, the Peter Olay Trailways system overhauled in put into place in the summer of 2022.

You can find the new Trail Map here or scroll below.

New Trail Map - click to expand

Hermit's Wetland

“The Hermit Rd. swamp can provide opportunities for nature-oriented passive recreation and is a good site for school nature studies. The entire course of Barney Brook from this swamp to the reservoir is rich in natural beauty and is a valuable natural resource for the Village of Irvington.” Overview Wetland Report

If you have an iNaturalist account you can see all the observations under the project "Irvington Woods Park - Hermit's Wetland” We have a significant colony of American featherfoil. This is an endangered species in NY state, the US forest service describe it as "a very beautiful and extraordinarily interesting aquatic wildflower” (https://www.fs.usda.gov/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/hottonia_inflata.shtml)

Trees for Tribs

Over the years the Village of Irvington has participated in the NYS DEC's Trees for Tribs program, which has supplied bare-root trees and shrubs which have been planted in several places in the Irvington Woods, including above the reservoir. The Trees for Tribs program's goal "is to plant trees and shrubs along streams to create a forested riparian (streamside) buffer that helps decrease erosion, reduce flooding damage, improve wildlife and stream habitat, and protect water quality."

Learn more with the DEC NY here.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse