Access to the Cora Kampfe Dickinson Conservation Area is currently by boat only, with no safe access to the upland forest portion of the preserve.

The Cora Kampfe Dickinson Conservation Area protects 1,350 feet of shoreline and high bluffs that are known locally as the “Staghorn Cliffs.”

Once open agricultural land, the preserve is now covered by a middle-aged hardwood forest, featuring red and sugar maples, oaks, and a variety of other hardwood trees commonly found in the region.  This forest blankets the steep hillside that rises up above the line of high lakeshore cliffs, helping to protect the water quality of Skaneateles Lake and contributing to the scenic forested backdrop of the lake.

The lakeshore bedrock here contains the staghorn coral fossils, which are the most notable and unique conservation feature of the preserve.  The Staghorn Cliffs of Skaneateles Lake are recognized as one of NY’s premiere paleontological sites, and are well known examples of an ancient coral reef from the Devonian Period, ca. 400-350 million years ago.

Visitors will be amazed to find tens of thousands of individual fossil horn corals embedded in the exposed bedrock of the lakeshore here.

Note:  Collecting is forbidden.

The 21 acres of land and shoreline on Skaneateles Lake that make up the Cora Kampfe Dickinson Conservation Area was generously donated to the Finger Lakes Land Trust in February 2011 by David Dickinson, Gary Dickinson, Laura Dickinson Maguire, Holly Dickinson Wilson, and Thomas Dickinson in honor of David’s parents Cora Kampfe and William Gilford Dickinson who purchased the property in the 1940s.

The preserve will be closed to public access from October 1–December 17, 2024, during the full hunting season.