A “vine-cutting” ceremony commemorated the opening of the Babcock Nature Center at the Buffalo Creek Nature Park on Saturday in Buffalo Township. Cutting the vine, from left, are Robin Zacherl, Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania board president; Jeanie Harbeck and Courtney Borntraeger, both of the Babcock Charitable Trust.

An idea 12 years in the making finally manifested Saturday as the Buffalo Creek Nature Park was opened in Buffalo Township.

The new park is the fourth one developed by the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania and is located between Little Buffalo Creek and the Butler Freeport Community Trail at 154 Monroe Road.

“We're very excited to finally open the park,” said Jim Bonner, executive director of the Audubon Society.

Bonner said the main amenity of the park is the Babcock Nature Center, which features a seating area to view the creek, a nature store and a large classroom for environmental education.

The six-acre park will also include a nature play area for children and a picnic pavilion open for casual use and available for rent.

The land where the park was built was first put up for sale 12 years ago, according to Bonner. He said the Audubon Society and Buffalo Township were both interested in purchasing the property at the time. Instead of competing against one another, Bonner said the township and the society agreed to cooperate.

The township applied for federal and state grants to acquire the land and the Audubon society agreed to match what it received. Bonner said it took four full years to finally acquire all the funds and purchase the land.

“It would have been a challenge for us to try and subdivide the property and develop it separately,” Bonner explained. “We reached an agreement where the township would own the land and the society would develop it and own the improvements.”

After years of planning and design, construction of the park and nature center took just under a year, and the opening ceremony for the park was held Saturday.

The Buffalo Creek Nature Park is just down the road from another one of the Audubon Society's parks, the Todd Nature Reserve. First developed in 1942, the reserve, located at 367 Kepple Road, is the society's oldest park.

The society's other parks are the Succop Nature Park on Airport Road in Butler and the Beechwood Farms Nature Reserve in Pittsburgh.

The initial operating hours for the Buffalo Creek Nature Reserve will be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Monday and will change seasonally.