Cascade Springs Nature Preserve features a 125-acre forested city park nestled in Atlanta’s Cascade Heights neighborhood. Inside this old-growth forest, you will find unique plants and animals, a waterfall, three artesian springs, and 250-million-year-old rocks. Humans have lived in and around Cascade Springs for over 10,000 years. From pre-Columbian engineering to 19th-century terrace farming to modern greenhouses, humans have impacted the land in many ways.

In the 1970s, a group of local residents, primarily women, formed a committee to protect land previously used as a nature resort from urbanization. In 1979 the local committee successfully had the City of Atlanta buy the land to create the Cascade Springs Nature Preserve, land set aside for preserving natural resources, historic landscapes, open space, and providing visual aesthetics/buffering.

In 2017, a group of civic-minded community members got together to honor and sustain the vision of these founding members. Later, that group became the Friends of Cascade Springs Nature Preserve and is now CSNC (Cascade Springs Nature Conservancy).

CSNC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit all-volunteer local organization dedicated to protecting the heritage and natural resources of the Cascade Springs Nature Preserve.  We hold regular meetings to plan and develop programs to promote conservation, education, visitor responsibility, and active community participation to achieve this mission.

CSNC is a new organization that was incorporated in 2019.  However, we have been at work since 2017, making an impact on the local community.  Here are some of our latest accomplishments:

• In 2017, we worked with community and municipal leaders to design a shared-use path on Cascade Road to provide safe bicycle and pedestrian access to the preserve.
• In 2018, we met with local stakeholders to identify the community’s critical needs and desired features for the preserve. Based on this valuable feedback, we authored a visioning document to describe community ideas for projects to improve the future state of the preserve.
• In 2019, we began implementing the visioning plan. We planned, designed, funded, and constructed a $20k stream bank restoration project.  The result of this effort was the Springhouse Boardwalk, a 200 ft boardwalk providing safe ADA compliant pedestrian access to the iconic springhouse artifact in the preserve.
• In 2019, we partnered with Georgia Audubon to plan and execute a 13-acre forest restoration project. The project was funded through a $25K grant and will result in the certification of the preserve as a wildlife sanctuary.
• In 2020, we worked with philanthropic organizations and municipal leaders to fund a park improvement project valued at over $400k. This project is called the Cascade Springs Glade.  As our most ambitious project so far, we are promoting a green transportation initiative by engaging with the local community to design safe bicycle and pedestrian access to the preserve; a welcoming trailhead plaza; a modern, secure, and durable boardwalk, as well as comfortable sitting and gathering areas.