Gallagher Beach

In May 2014, the Outer Harbor became the site of the 180th State Park in New York, and the first one to be located within Buffalo's city limits. These 190 acres (77 ha) of waterfront land incorporate the existing Gallagher Beach (see below) and Safe Harbor Marina as well as the new Tifft Street Pier. In addition to those amenities which are described in more detail below, there's also a free carousel and playground for the kids, facilities for picnickers, a slate of special events, and a bike and walking path that extends about a third of a mile (600 m) from the parking lot and boat launch (under construction as of autumn 2016) along the L-shaped breakwall on the perimeter of the Small Boat Harbor, with great views over the lake and several access points for fishing.

Inaugurated in 2014, the Tifft Street Pier begins as a pleasant bow-shaped boardwalk, beautifully landscaped with greenery and space for public art installations, that leads joggers and walkers along the Shoreline Trail directly onto the shore. But the main attraction is a floating pontoon that extends 130 feet (40 m) into the water, ending in a sleekly-designed, covered observation deck with unbeatable views over Lake Erie — a perfect spot for fishing, birdwatching or just relaxing on the waterfront. There's docking space for boats at the end, too.

Operated by the Buffalo Museum of Science, Tifft Nature Preserve is 264 acres (106 ha) of greenery that serves as an important wetland habitat for native wildlife such as beaver, fox, turtle, deer, and 264 species of native and migratory waterfowl. George Washington Tifft's dairy farm was later used as a transshipment terminal for the Lehigh Valley Railroad and then as a garbage dump; by the time it became a nature preserve in 1976, it had already "rewilded" on its own to a great degree. The preserve has been thoroughly cleaned up since the days of heavy industry, and today the nature trails and wildlife viewing stations at Tifft are one of the best ways for Buffalonians to get "back to nature" without leaving the city limits. The 75 acres (30 ha) of freshwater cattail marsh are one of Western New York's largest natural expanses of this type of ecosystem. Fishing on Lake Kirsty is popular in the summer, as are guided nature walks; in winter, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing are on offer. The Makowski Visitors' Center is open all year.

Years ago, the Union Ship Canal was a pretty crowded place: it was the centerpiece of the 70-acre (28 ha) campus of the Hanna Furnace Company, founded in 1899 by the same group of local industrialists who brought the Lackawanna Steel Company to the area. Here, freighters docked and unloaded their cargo of iron ore from the Midwest to be milled into pig iron by, at the company's peak, a workforce of 800 at a rate of 3,100 tons (2,800 metric tons) per day. Like the rest of the Western New York steel industry, Hanna Furnace went belly-up in the 1980s, but the peaceful, pleasant park that's on the site today pays homage to its predecessor in a number of ways: dense groves of trees mimic the towering buildings that once lined the canal, artificial hills recall heaps of limestone and ore, its east end is anchored by a massive ladle once used to pour molten iron into molds to harden, even the pavement design of the walking paths along the canal's edge echoes the pattern of the railroads that used to be there. Ship Canal Commons also boasts over two miles (3 km) of nature trails and a lovely footbridge over the canal, and its waters are fully ecologically restored and boast aquatic plants, waterfowl, and fish such as smallmouth bass and perch. Ship Canal Commons is easy to reach by bike via the Shoreline Trail and on foot via the footbridge at the south end of Fuhrmann Boulevard, but automobile access is trickier: you have to take either Tifft Street or Ridge Road and wind your way through the industrial park.

Opened in 2019, this 20-acre (8-ha) park right at the center of the Outer Harbor action is the destination of choice on the Buffalo waterfront for the more active visitor. The Lakeside Complex features a grassy lawn perfect for a pickup soccer or baseball match, a pleasant bike-ped trail along its outer perimeter, and — the pièce de résistance — an exciting mountain-bike obstacle course with loops, a pump track, and rock and tube hazards for the kind of experience you definitely won't find on the Shoreline Trail or any of the on-street bikeways around town.

The Flat Man sure gets around: from its creation in 1963 through today, this 30-foot (9-m) sculpture — the work of Buffalo's own Larry Griffis, whose other works of public art around town include Birds Excited Into Flight on Bidwell Parkway and Spirit of Womanhood in Delaware Park — has been moved from its original site at the Kissing Bridge ski resort in Colden, to the 400-acre Griffis Sculpture Park in Cattaraugus County, to the Essex Arts Center on the West Side, to his new home on the Outer Harbor, where he's giving Canalside's Shark Girl a run for her money as a popular destination for selfie-snapping visitors. Sculpted in the artist's preferred medium of cold-rolled steel (milled just down the road at the Lackawanna Steel Plant), it's an oversized, abstract depiction of what its title indicates, with a heart-shaped opening in its chest promoting a message of love and inclusiveness for all.