At a Glance

Hours:

Grounds and trails: –

Open daily sunrise to sunset, year-round.

Nature Center:

Daily, open 9 am – 5 pm.
Business hours Monday thr0ugh Friday 9 am – 5 pm
Closed on all County holidays

Cost: Free.

Tips: The park can be crowded in summer and when hosting special events. ■ Restrooms are located at the Nature Center, near the picnic pavilions, and at the lodge/meeting facility.

Not Permitted:

Bikes and horses
Alcohol and cannabis
Swimming, fishing, and personal watercraft
Open fires, propane or gas grills, and weapons
Glass, amplified music, and balloons
Metal detecting and drones

Best Seasons: Spring and fall.

Breeding Bird Atlas Blocks: Cockeysville NW, Cockeysville NE

Local MOS Chapter: Baltimore Bird Club

Oregon Ridge Park

13401 Beaver Dam Road, Cockeysville, MD 21030
(410) 887-1815

Oregon Ridge Park, a 1,034 acre county park located in northern Baltimore County, offers a variety of birding opportunitie amid its extensive and diverse habitats. The park, often considered “two parks in one,” has two main visitor areas, very different in character: an area anchored by a Nature Center that provides access to diverse natural habitats through an extensive trail network, and an active recreation area located off Cuba Road and Beaver Dam Road, that includes ball fields, a playground, a dinner theatre, a multi-purpose building known as the Lodge, an outdoor stage, picnic pavilions, and (of all things!) a now unused ski slope, which provides seating on the grass for concerts at the outdoor stage. (The Lodge is left over from the short-lived ski slope era.) Birders will, of course, be most interested in the park’s natural areas.

Consult the park’s excellent trail map (see link in the At a Glance section of this webpage) for park layout. Also see the Park’s website for descriptions of the major trails. Be aware that many of the forest trails have elevation changes, with some steep slopes, especially in the southern portion of the park. Most trails are natural surface and have exposed roots and rocks.

The park has two main streams: Oregon Branch, which flows west to east across the northern end of the park, and Baisman Run, which arcs across the southern part of the park with an easterly flow. Both streams flow outside the park to become tributaries of Beaverdam Run, which feeds into Western Run, a tributary of the Gunpowder Falls located near the upper end of Loch Raven Reservoir. Baisman Run has high water quality and has supported native brook trout as well as non-native brown trout. There are also groundwater seeps and small streams throughout the park that support various fish species as well as interesting plant communities.

The park is bisected by its namesake, Oregon Ridge, a linear hill of about 620 feet in elevation; Oregon Ridge separates the watersheds of the Oregon Branch to the north and Baisman Run to the south. The east end of Oregon Ridge is where the old ski slope is located. Trails that run south from the Nature Center or north from the Baisman Run area will be going up the slope to the Ridge and can be steep in spots. Part of the Loggers Trail loop follows along the Ridge and that section is relatively level, but there are hills to get to that part.

Outside of the active recreation area (which has mown grass and scattered trees), most of the park is covered with mixed deciduous forest, with both upland and bottomland areas. There are several species of conifers scattered through the park, some of which are specimen trees that were intentionally planted at various points in the property’s long history of human use.

Adjacent to the Nature Center are a pollinator garden, shrubby fields and meadows, a small pond (known as the Wildlife Management Pond), and several small streams. East of the Nature Center is the four-acre Quarry Lake (aka Oregon Lake) that occupies what was an iron ore mining pit. A large vernal pool is at the east end of Quarry Lake. Small water-filled mining pits dot the landscape and hold wetland habitats.

The Nature Center is located in an area that was formerly occupied by a mining town, and some of the historic town structures still exist, complemented by interpretive signage and displays of artifacts.

The forested south end of the park contains another small pond (Ivy Hill Pond), located on a tributary of Baisman Run. There is no direct access by vehicle to the south end of the park; that part of the park consists of a conservation zone that is accessible only by foot-trail. This part of the park is blissfully undisturbed by buildings or roads, although it is adjacent to suburban developments.

There are two utility line cuts that run diagonally through the park from northeast to southwest; these are shown as dashed lines on the park’s trail map (see link in At a Glance section of this webpage), but are not labelled as utility line cuts on the map. The more northerly cut runs south of the big vernal pool and Quarry Lake, while the more southerly one is south of and parallel to the old ski slope. The utility line cuts contain the kind of habitat usually found in such places: a mix of grasses and flowering plants with some small shrubs that may be mown once a year. As such, the utility line cuts bring an additional dimension to the park’s habitats.

The Center for Maryland Agriculture and Farm Park, owned by Baltimore County, lies just across Shawan Road from Oregon Ridge Park and constitutes another good bird site in its own right. The 149-acre Ag Center has open fields and pastures and is known for field birds in the warm months. There is a modest trail system that will take you around the best habitats. Restrooms are located at the parking area west of the Ag Center main building. The terrain at the Ag Center is generally flat or gently sloping, and so may be more manageable for those not up for the steeper trail at Oregon Ridge Park. The grounds are open from 7 am to sunset; the Education Center Building and its programs run from 8 am to 4 pm daily.

—————-

Historical notes: What is now Oregon Ridge Park was originally occupied by indigenous Native Americans. Beginning about 1670, Shawnee tribal members, not originally from this area, were displaced by settlers in Ohio and took up residence here. The word “Shawan” in many local place names is thought to be a derivation of the Shawnee people.s name.

Land patents were granted by the King of England to white settlers in the 1700s, starting an era of farming and industry. In the 1800s, the park was the site of iron and marble mines, as well as iron furnaces, and the remnants of these still dot the landscape. The historical mining town buildings near the Nature Center and ruins of buildings and other structures are a reminder of that phase of land use.

In the twentieth century, the land passed to other owners. A noteworthy event was the establishment of Ivy Hill Forest, owned by the conservationist Harry Lee Hoffman from 1943-1958. Hoffman developed a management plan that was considered to be a model for land conservation, and established a native plant nursery on the grounds. Some of the existing native plants and trees are no doubt descendants of the Hoffman-era plantings.

The Maryland Conservation Federation had plans to acquire and operate Ivy Hill Forest, but lacked the funds to do so. The ski slope and Lodge were developed in the 1960s and operated under the name Ski Oregon Ridge. However, this endeavor quickly came to an end because the warm winters precluded the production of a good snow base.

Baltimore County gradually acquired what is now Oregon Ridge Park, starting in 1969 with 438 acres in the north section and a 115-acre core in the southern section. Other parcels were acquired over the intervening years, the most recent in 2000. A significant acquisition came in 1990 with the purchase of the 200-acre Merryman Tract, now forming the southeast corner of the park; the acquisition of this parcel that was slated for development was made possible by a grassroots citizens group that garnered the political support and raised funds for the purchase; you can read about this campaign on the Park’s website.

Part, but not all, of the park is now protected under a land conservation easement held by the Maryland Environmental Trust.

Birdlife:

Over 170 species have been reported at the eBird hotspot for Oregon Ridge Park, which is known for its migrating warblers and other songbirds. There is a separate eBird hotspot for the nearby Center for Maryland Agriculture and Farm Park, with 156+ species.

Notable birds to see at Oregon Ridge are Yellow-billed Cuckoo and Baltimore Oriole. Red-shouldered and Red-tailed Hawks may be found year-round, along with woodpeckers and small woodland birds such as chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, and wrens.

Swallows and flycatchers are present in the warmer months. Sparrows may be found from October through April, including Dark-eyed Junco and Fox, White-crowned, White-throated, Savannah, and Swamp Sparrows. Lincoln’s Sparrow is an occasional fall visitor. Chipping Sparrow, Song Sparrow, and Eastern Towhee may be found year-round, and a few Field Sparrows may also be present in the summer, but numbers are greater in fall, winter, and spring.

The nearby Ag Center on the north side of Shawan Road is known for warm-season field birds such as Grasshopper Sparrow, Field Sparrow, Eastern Meadowlark, and Bobolink. But the Ag Center offers good birding year round, and is worth a visit at any time.

Wheelchair Access:

The Marble Quarry Loop Trail near the Nature Center (abbreviated M.Q. Loop on the trail map) is a o.3 mile paved loop that is billed as stroller-friendly, but may be too rough for some wheelchairs. The Nature Center is accessible, and there is an accessible portable restroom in the Quarry Lake area from May through October. Most of the picnic pavilions and the playground are accessible.

Pet Policy:

Dogs are allowed but must be leashed at all times; you must pick up after your dog and bag and dispose of your dog’s waste properly.

Special Designations:

The Oregon Ridge Nature Center is a certified Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE) Green Center.

Part of Oregon Ridge Park is protected through a conservation easement held by the Maryland Environmental Trust.

Special Features:

An extensive Master Plan for Oregon Ridge Park was published in 2023; the implementation of this plan in the coming years is slated to bring considerable changes to the visitor amenities, trails, and parking areas at the Park.
Oregon Ridge Nature Center houses wildlife and nature displays as well as a library, gift shop, and meeting area. Exhibits include live snakes, fish, honeybees, turtles, and others. There are two outdoor raptor mews behind the Nature Center building. Of special interest to families are several gardens, picnic tables, the Kidd’s Nature Pavilion, and a nature-themed playground.
The Nature Center offers nature education programs, a monthly Speaker Series, and special events, year-round. For the calendar of events, see the calendar link at http://www.oregonridgenaturecenter.org/index.html.
Oregon Ridge Park is known for the diversity of its plants. An Annotated Checklist of the Vascular Flora of Oregon Ridge Park, Baltimore County, Maryland, by Donnell E. Redmon, was published in 1993 by the Natural History Society of Maryland in their scientific journal, Maryland Naturalist.
Additional plant lists and lists for other taxons are available in Subappendix A of the Master Plan for Oregon Ridge Park.

Local MOS Chapter:

The local chapter of the Maryland Ornithological Society is the Baltimore Bird Club. The Baltimore Bird Club is the founding chapter of the Maryland Ornithological Society, and remains an important hub of birding activity in the state. The club offers monthly meetings with informative presentations and a full schedule of field trips and bird walks, all free and open to the public.

Parking:

Free; paved lot available near Nature Center; see map at link at left for other parking. Note that there are two separate park entrances: one (Kurtz Lane) leads to the Nature Center and trailheads; the other is for the indoor dinner theater/meeting facility and the rental picnic pavilions.

Directions:

From I-83 north of Baltimore, take Exit 20B (Shawan Road West). Follow Shawan Road to the first traffic light at Beaver Dam Road, and turn left (south). Immediately after making the left onto Beaver Dam Road, there will be a fork in the road. Take the right fork into the park and follow the driveway to the parking lot. The Nature Center is located a short walk up the driveway, at the top of the hill.

Nearby Sites:

Baltimore City: Cylburn Arboretum ■ Druid Hill Park ■ Fort McHenry National Monument ■ Masonville Cove Environmental Education Center ■ Patterson Park

Baltimore County: Cromwell Valley Park ■ Fort Howard Park ■ Gunpowder Falls State Park – Hammerman Area & Dundee Creek Marina ■ Hart-Miller Island State Park ■ Holt Park ■ Irvine Nature Center ■ Lake Roland ■ Liberty Reservoir – Baltimore County ■ Loch Raven Reservoir ■ Marshy Point Nature Center ■ Milford Mill aka Villa Nova Park ■ North Point State Park ■ Northern Central Rail Trail (NCRT) ■ Soldiers Delight Natural Environmental Area