EMP Home

Parks

Reservations

Volunteers

Rangers

Announcements

Special Events

Friends of EMP

EMP Jobs

Webcam

Organizations

Park Rules

Links

Park Commission

        Hoffman Forest Reserve is made possible by a 20 year lease from H. Lowell Hoffman, M.D. to Erie MetroParks.  The lease, which was signed in 1995, reflects the owner's commitment to conservation and environmental education.

         Providing a delightful respite from the sights and sounds of urban life,  several unpaved trails begin near the parking lot and loop through the reserve, wandering through diverse habitats, over and through creeks, up hillsides and around a meadow.

        
         Hoffman Forest Reserve features the intersection of two small intermittent branches of Old Woman Creek.  The reserve also consists of three main ecological communities; the creek bottom and surrounding valley; a large section of meadow/old field community; and a mature forest.

         The creek bottom and surrounding valley area includes a dense mixed forest, which surrounds the creeks and covers the valley slopes.  This varied forest includes paw-paw, spicebush and several other shrubs.

         The large meadow/old field area supports a variety of herbaceous plants and trees, both planted and naturally occurring.  The meadow is rapidly being reforested by a variety of trees planted by the property owner.

          The mature forest community occupies a small part of the property and is comprised mostly of oak, hickory and maple, mixed in size and without dense undergrowth.

          In order to protect the many diverse and different habitats of the reserve, we ask that you take only pictures and leave only footprints.