Butner-Falls of Neuse Game Land
Nature preserve
599 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: EbonyEaton · CC BY-SA 4.0A−Outdoors
Outdoors in Butner
41% of Butner’s land is conserved: 3,616 acres
3,534 acres are parks and preserves, 438 per 1,000 residents. 1.0 miles of mapped trail cross Butner, 0.1 per square mile of land. 70% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 79% of U.S. towns · #27 of 290 in North Carolina. What drives it
Conserved land
41%
3,616 acres · of 13.8 sq mi of land
Trails
1.0 mi
0.1 per sq mi of land
Park land
3,534 ac
438 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
70%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
1.0 mi
1.0 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
1
What kind of outdoors town is Butner?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Butner have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Butner is ahead of 79% of U.S. towns, #27 of 290 in North Carolina. Conserved land holds the grade up; trail miles pull it down.
A−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Butner’s overall grade.
Conserved land41% of the land · typical NC town 3% · U.S. 4%A+Trails0.1 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (1 mi) · NC 0.2 · U.S. 0.4CPark land438 acres of park per 1,000 residents (3,534 acres) · NC 8 · U.S. 13AParks close to home70% of residents within a half mile of a park · NC 51% · U.S. 72%B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 79%
LessMore
North Carolina towns of 2,500+ (290)Ahead of 91%
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A+. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Who protects it
3,616 conserved acres
41% of Butner’s land. Who manages Butner’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Town or city41 ac
State conservation5 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits5 ac
Not recorded5,544 ac
State Conservation Area · 3,514 acState Other or Unknown · 1,109 acLocal Other or Unknown · 916 acLocal Park · 34 acLocal Recreation Area · 7 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 1 acre is a conservation easement, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 7 of 13 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Butner-Falls of Neuse Game Land State Conservation Area | Not recorded | 3,514 | Open |
| Town of Butner Open Space Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 911 | Unknown |
| Umstead Research Farm State Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 567 | Unknown |
| John Umstead Hospital State Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 295 | Unknown |
| Murdoch Developmental Center State Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 203 | Unknown |
| Umstead Correctional Center State Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 38 | Closed |
| Butner Athletic Park Local Park | Town or city | 34 | Open |
| Unknown Ball Field Local Recreation Area | Town or city | 7 | Open |
| South Butner Cedar Glades Plant Conservation Preserve State Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 5 | Restricted |
| City of Creedmoor Open Space Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 5 | Unknown |
1 smaller protected places aren’t shown.
Things to do
1 places to go in Butner
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Butner
1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Trails & water
1 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
1.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
1.0 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
7Baseball
2Tennis
2Soccer
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Butner: April and May
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 10.0 | 10.8 | 11.9 | 13.1 | 14.1 | 14.6 | 14.4 | 13.5 | 12.4 | 11.2 | 10.2 | 9.7 |
| High (°F) | 51 | 55 | 62 | 72 | 79 | 86 | 90 | 88 | 82 | 72 | 62 | 54 |
| Rain (in) | 3.5 | 2.9 | 4.2 | 3.8 | 3.7 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.6 |
February is the driest month (2.9 in) and July the warmest (highs of 90 °F). 4.5 inches fall in September, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 90 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Butner →
Next door
Butner and its neighbors
Butner has the second most mapped trails of the 2 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Butner | 41% | 0.1 | 438 | 70% | A− |
| Creedmoor | 24% | 0.3 | 109 | 81% | A |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Butner
How much of Butner is conserved land?
41% of its land, against a typical 3% for a North Carolina town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Butner’s trails?
Butner-Falls of Neuse Game Land doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Butner?
1.0 miles of bike routes are on the map: 1.0 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Butner?
46,813 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Butner or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 3,535 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Butner have?
Ahead of 79% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #27 of 290 in North Carolina. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Butner neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →