California Woods Nature Preserve and Center

Are your kids off school for Presidents Day? Join our team to make sweet syrup from tree sap with drills, buckets, fire, and careful supervision at California Woods. Play games, explore in the maple forest, and make something cool. Finish the day with stories and a treat around a warm fire. Campers will spend time both indoors and outdoors.

Join our team for one date or all of them. We will restore our beautiful native forest by killing invasive plants or stopping their spread. From late Fall through Winter and early Spring we'll cut and stack bush honeysuckle and other woody invasives. In Spring we'll pull and bag garlic mustard. In late Summer and early Fall we’ll pull and bag Japanese stilt grass and Japanese chaff flower, and throughout the year we may engage in other habitat restoration projects. This will usually be off trail in wooded, often hilly terrain.

Join us for an annual tradition of family fun including maple syrup demos, guided nature walks, & the birds of Raptors, Inc! FREE refreshments include hot chocolate, tea, coffee, & Tweedles mini donuts 

Walk among the towering trees of California Woods to enjoy one of Cincinnati’s best spring wildflower displays.  See the fascinating ways these unique plants lure scarce pollinators and outwit the dangers of early spring, and uncover the secret stories of their long, underground lives.  Dress for the weather and be ready for a long walk on a natural surface in mostly easy terrain with a few steps and slopes.

Walk among the fresh blooms dotting the greening forest floor under the tall trees of this secluded preserve.  Get to know uncommon species, plentiful flowers of striking beauty, and the clever ways they survive the challenges of spring.  You can choose a hilly option or a paved, more mobility-friendly walk at registration.  Wear sturdy, closed-toed shoes and dress for the weather.  Meet outside the Lindberg Nature Center.