Nature Classes in NYC, New York

Prospect Park is a great place for foragers to explore at the end of the winter. Like Central Park, this Olmstead-designed landscape features a variety of habitats filled with delicious native and exotic plants. Wild coffee grows along the sidewalk that runs along the park's east side. Unrelated to commercial coffee, you can collect the seeds of the...

March 24, 2019 Central Park provides a great window into the world of wild foods of early spring. It's the start of the season for wild salad greens, and we'll be finding great quantities of these weedy delicacies. Pungent field garlic is everywhere. You use the leaves like scallions or chives, and the bulbs like onions. Spicy mustard greens, such...

Welcome the return of crisp Autumn days with a walk in the park and learn to identify trees by the details: bark, buds, leaves and tree form. Get those sweaters on and come outside for an introduction to some stunning trees in fine fall colors.  Exact meeting instructions will be sent the day before the walk.

Forest Park's woodlands, cultivated areas, and thickets make it a great place for early summer foraging, and a perfect place to celebrate Independence Day. Luscious black raspberries are in season now, and we'll hunt for them in thickets throughout the day. We'll be looking for prized daylily flowers, in bloom in partially shaded areas throughout...

Share your passion for nature by learning to lead interactive walks that engage diverse audiences. We'll discuss how to break down complex ecological concepts into digestible pieces, as well as how to encourage participation while keeping your group focused. Build your confidence by practicing your skills in a supportive environment.

The whole family can enjoy exclusive early access to the zoo with our wild troop of baboons! Participants enjoy a tasty breakfast, meet an animal up close, and make a special treat for amazing primates.

March 9, 2019 Saxon Woods Park's forested areas, cultivated places, and tailsides are excellent places for late winter foraging, and we'll be very busy with a variety of common, widespread, renewable native and exotic plant species as we explore these habitats. The sunny borders between woodlands and open areas provide prime habitat for wild herbs...

For centuries herbs and spices have been prized not just for their flavors, but as state-of-the-art medicine. Learn about a variety of plants historically used for first aid, to revitalize the immune system, and to treat and prevent asthma, insomnia, sinusitis, bronchitis, colds and flu, and much more.  Join us—you'll be a much smarter shopper...

Join us for some "cheep" thrills as you learn more about the birds that call the Bronx Zoo home. You and your family will learn from one of our ornithology experts, meet an animal up close, and take a walk through the zoo to learn about the birds that live in and outside of our exhibits. All ages are welcome.  Tickets are per person, and children...

Trees may appear to be strong and silent, but they can "talk"—to one another, to other plants, and to animals and insects. Discover how trees communicate via chemical signals in the air (to warn each other of insect attacks), as well as through complex fungal networks underground to transfer nutrients and resources to one another (sometimes to assist...

Prospect Park is a great place for foragers to explore at the end of the winter. Like Central Park, this Olmstead-designed landscape features a variety of habitats filled with delicious native and exotic plants. Wild coffee grows along the sidewalk that runs along the park's east side. Unrelated to commercial coffee, you can collect the seeds of the...

March 24, 2019 Central Park provides a great window into the world of wild foods of early spring. It's the start of the season for wild salad greens, and we'll be finding great quantities of these weedy delicacies. Pungent field garlic is everywhere. You use the leaves like scallions or chives, and the bulbs like onions. Spicy mustard greens, such...

Forest Park is one of the best places for foragers in mid-spring. Get lost in this vast park, and you'll have plenty to eat (that is, if you can distinguish the gourmet plants from the deadly ones.) It boasts a large, mature, secondary growth forest, trail edges, thickets, and cultivated areas—all overflowing with wild plants. Burdock,...

This large wetland park offers vast foraging opportunities, even as winter approaches. We begin with a small, young woodland. It contains large quantities of field garlic, with leaves like chives and bulbs like onions or garlic. There's also garlic mustard, a garlic-flavored mustard green with a taproot that tastes like horseradish. Nearby grows sassafras,...

This vastly underappreciated park offers all the best wild foods of the rich seashore habitat. The sandy soil is poor, limiting tree growth but benefiting plants that can take advantage of the unblocked sunlight and nutrient-poor soil. Many species get a head start in late winter and early spring, and the same plants appear in late fall, induced to...