Project represents Zakery Steele’s experience under preivous employment. This project was not completed by Sue Steele Landscape Architecture, PLLC.
Tifft Nature Preserve is a 264-acre protected refuge in Buffalo, New York that facilitates environmental education and conservation for a varied landscape of wetlands and woodlands along the Lake Erie shoreline. The preserve was created from a former landfill site in 1972 and includes more than five miles of trails, wooden boardwalks, an education center, fishing access, and a multitude of educational programs and opportunities for visitors. Many of the preserve’s trails are hiking trials that traverse a range of landscapes, including vernal pools, creek channels, ponds, and forest environments. As hiking trails, many of the natural experiences gained throughout the preserve do not meet Americans with Disabilities Act guidelines.
In 2019 the preserve began a project to plan and design an enhanced and fully ADA compliant trail that would provide looped ADA complaint access between the Herb and Jane Darling Education Center and the preserve’s premier visitor wetland viewing area, the Heritage Boardwalk. The existing boardwalk was a relatively narrow wooden pile supported walkway that did not allow simultaneous pedestrian and wheelchair access and needed repairs. The project also replaces the boardwalk with an 8-foot-wide steel-framed modular walkway supported on helical piles to minimize disturbance to the sensitive wetland environment. The new accessibility trail provides a wide paved looped access route to the new boardwalk, includes wheelchair accessible rest areas, and specifically routes users through an experience that reveals unexpected natural views and diverse micro-environments. The project also includes wayfinding and signage amenities, a kiosk, a rehabilitated outdoor classroom area, ADA parking lot access improvements, and stormwater rain gardens. Mr. Steele served as Project Manager and Senior Landscape Architect for the project. The Accessibility Trail design was completed in 2020 and is expected to begin construction soon.
Client
Tifft Nature Preserve
Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences
Services
Trail Design
Boardwalk Design
Landscape Architecture
Project Team
Stantec Consulting Services Inc.
*Project completed under previous employment.