Mentor Lagoons Nature Preserve

Escape to the tranquility of nature at its best and explore the beauty of an unspoiled beach and miles of hiking and water trails. You’ll be rewarded with countless wildlife encounters and bird sightings. Located on the shores of Lake Erie, the property that encompasses a total of 450-acres, was purchased by the City of Mentor in 1997 and 1998 in order to save it from a proposed private development. It includes not only the nature preserve, but the adjacent Mentor Lagoons Marina, that accommodates up to 500 boats along its crescent-shaped, open waterways. Mentor’s 230-acre nature preserve includes 1-1/2 miles of shoreline with rare dune plants, a riverine marsh and mature oak bluff. Located on the western boundary of the 691-acre Mentor Marsh State Nature Preserve, the property contains the greatest diversity of wetland communities within the marsh basin, and serves as an important breeding and nursery area for fish and waterfowl and an extremely popular resting place for neo-tropical birds and butterflies as they migrate each year.