Once a glacial lake, the 3,200-acre Bashakill Wildlife Management Area is home to numerous wildlife species and many varieties of migratory birds. It supports abundant waterfowl populations and many other wetland-dependent birds, including the Great Blue Heron, Virginia Rail, and the Common Moorhen. The Bashakill Wildlife Management Area is also home to a plethora of rare plants and serves as a fish nursery. These extensive wetlands contain the headwaters of the Basha Kill, which traverses the marshy landscape. The surrounding woods and shrubland contain one of the largest bat hibernacula in the state.
Located near the Village of Wurtsboro in Sullivan County, the Bashakill Wildlife Management Area is one of the largest freshwater wetlands in southern New York State. In the early 1970s, the Open Space Institute assisted the State of New York in completing its first acquisition in the area — approximately 2,500 acres — to create the management area. Today, OSI is both adding to the protected wetlands as well as acquiring hundreds of acres on the adjacent Shawangunk Ridge.