The Nature Preserve on the Binghamton University campus was introduced after the fall of 1969, when protests arose over the planned use of the area as playing fields. Even though these wetlands had already begun to be filled in, demonstrations by students on campus halted further destruction. In response to the rather large outcry by students, some faculty, and local environmentalists, the University ceased their efforts to construct the playing fields in the area and then-President Bruce Dearing proposed that the marsh and pond area be set aside as a nature preserve for the recreational and instructional uses of the students and the University community. The Committee on University Environment (CUE) was formed during the 1969/1970 academic year by Dearing through the Faculty Senate. This group was composed of faculty, students and staff who immediately worked to establish the boundaries of the Preserve. In 1970, the committee proposed an expansion of the preserve through both purchase and designation of undeveloped land. In April of 1972, students planted more than 1,500 trees and shrubs in the Nature Preserve for Earth Day.

In addition to the Nature Preserve, there are other undeveloped portions of land on campus that have the semi-official designation of “Natural Area.” One significant portion of this, referred to as the south woods, was the focus of a joint effort in 1968 to halt the destruction of a hardwood native tree area for the building of the new College in the Woods dormitory and parking complex. Pressures came in from a forest zoology professor from the State University College of Forestry, Dr. Harrison H. Payne, the University Arts Committee, the Binghamton Naturalists club, the Susquehanna Conservation Council and determined students. In August of 1968, there was a Hike-in organized by the editor of the student newspaper, Joseph Decillis, to explore this area and to examine its features. That same week, administrators revealed amended building plans which retained significant portions of this area.

Since the Nature Preserve's creation, there have been fairly substantial campus land acquisitions through both donation and purchase. Some of these led to expanded natural areas, including the following notable examples. In 1999, the university bought land south of Harpur Pond atop the hill cradling the Nature Preserve. This purchase (the Martin property) added 59 acres of abandoned tilled and grazed land, along with 14 acres of mature forest to the east. In 2001, about 45 acres (the Tatich property) were purchased near Bunn Hill road along the right of way past the water towers. By the early 2000s, there were approximately 600 acres of natural areas on campus, including 190 acres designated as the Nature Preserve.

This history was written using information provided on Binghamton University's Nature Preserve website as of October 2025, materials in this collection, and the student newspaper Pipe Dream.