The Flat Rock Brook Nature Center is a 150 acre (0.607029 km²) preserve and education center situated on the western slope of the Palisades in Englewood

Englewood, New Jersey

Englewood is a city located in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 27,147.Englewood was incorporated as a city by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from portions of Ridgefield Township and the remaining portions of...

, New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, United States of America. The Center was established in 1973 by citizens who were committed to land conservation and environmental education. This nature center has 3.6 miles of trails.

This natural woodland is one of the last remnants of the Palisades Forest. The Flat Rock Brook Nature Center is managed by the Flat Rock Brook Nature Association. Its purpose is to maintain and preserve the lands under its supervision as a natural sanctuary for plant and animal life in our urban area and as a natural environment available to the public for trail walks, nature study and other passive recreation.

It provides environmental education programs for all ages in order to generate understanding and appreciation of nature and to instill a sense of responsibility and knowledge of the means to protect the natural world and its resources for future generations.

A network of self-guiding trails leads to streams

STREAMS

In computer networking, STREAMS is the native framework in Unix System V for implementing character devices.STREAMS was designed as a modular architecture for implementing full-duplex I/O between kernel or user space processes and device drivers. Its most frequent uses have been in developing...

, wetlands, ponds, wildflower

Wildflower

A wildflower is a flower that grows wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. Yet "wildflower" meadows of a few mixed species are sold in seed packets. The term "wildflower" has been made vague by commercial seedsmen who are interested in selling more flowers or seeds more...

 meadows, quarry cliffs, woodland

Woodland

Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...

, and even a park

Park

A park is a protected area, in its natural or semi-natural state, or planted, and set aside for human recreation and enjoyment, or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. It may consist of rocks, soil, water, flora and fauna and grass areas. Many parks are legally protected by...

. Flat Rock Brook trails and picnic area are open free to the public every day from dawn to dusk.