Catawissa Recreation Area - Weiser State Forest
Managed by DCNR
819 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
B+Outdoors
Outdoors in Hazle Township
Hazle Township has 1,237 acres of parks, 121 for every 1,000 residents
29 miles of mapped trail cross Hazle Township, 0.6 per square mile of land. 47% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 4% of Hazle Township’s land is conserved, about 1,238 acres.
Ahead of 71% of U.S. towns · #455 of 1,037 in Pennsylvania. What drives it
Conserved land
4%
1,238 acres · of 45.1 sq mi of land
Trails
29 mi
0.6 per sq mi of land
Park land
1,237 ac
121 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
47%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
5.5 mi
5.5 mi paths
Highest peak
1,699 ft
Little Sugarloaf Mountain
Lakes & rivers
3
What kind of outdoors town is Hazle Township?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Hazle Township have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Hazle Township is ahead of 71% of U.S. towns, #455 of 1,037 in Pennsylvania. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Hazle Township’s overall grade.
Conserved land4% of the land · typical PA town 8% · U.S. 4%BTrails0.6 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (29 mi) · PA 0.4 · U.S. 0.4B+Park land121 acres of park per 1,000 residents (1,237 acres) · PA 14 · U.S. 13AParks close to home47% of residents within a half mile of a park · PA 73% · U.S. 72%C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 71%
LessMore
Pennsylvania towns of 2,500+ (1,037)Ahead of 56%
Pennsylvania towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 8%; the U.S., 4%), so Hazle Township’s 4% is ahead of 31% of Pennsylvania towns, while its trails per square mile lead 63% of them.
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.
Butler Preserve
Managed by North Branch Land Trust
136 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Drifton Softball Complex
Park
20 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
All 8 parks & preserves
Louis Schiavo City View Park1 acres · 0.1 mi of trail
Catawissa Recreation Area - Weiser State Forest819 acres · DCNR
DirectionsButler Preserve136 acres · North Branch Land Trust
DirectionsHazle Township Community Park23 acres
DirectionsDrifton Softball Complex20 acres
Saint Stans Park3 acres
Pardeesville Playground2 acres
Greater Hazleton Rails to Trails Trailhead1 acres
DirectionsWho protects it
1,238 conserved acres
4% of Hazle Township’s land. Who manages Hazle Township’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
State natural resources839 ac
Land trusts & nonprofits539 ac
Other or Unknown Local Government178 ac
Private owners5 ac
Not recorded199 ac
State Recreation Area · 819 acPrivate Conservation · 381 acLocal Recreation Area · 195 acLocal Park · 178 acConservation Easement · 164 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 9 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 5 of 19 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Catawissa Recreation Area State Recreation Area | State natural resources | 819 | Open |
| Butler Preserve Private Conservation | Not recorded | 267 | Open |
| Forest Road Community Park Local Park | Other or Unknown Local Government | 172 | Open |
| Butler Enterprises Land Acquisition Local Recreation Area | Land trusts & nonprofits | 136 | Open |
| Valmont Bog Sanctuary Private Conservation | Not recorded | 114 | Open |
| Valmont Bog Acquisition Local Recreation Area | Land trusts & nonprofits | 47 | Open |
| Penrose Swamp Barrens State Resource Management Area | State natural resources | 19 | Open |
| Unknown Park Local Park | Not recorded | 12 | Open |
| Hazle Township Recreation Local Recreation Area | Other or Unknown Local Government | 7 | Open |
| Pinchot State Forest State Resource Management Area | State natural resources | 4 | Open |
Things to do
4 places to go in Hazle Township
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Hazle Township
1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Dog parks in Hazle Township
1 dog park without a name on the map.
Peaks in Hazle Township
Little Sugarloaf Mountain1,699 ft elevation
DirectionsEagle Rock
DirectionsTrails & water
1 named trail and 3 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Unpaved · 1.8 mi
Hazleton City Authority dumping trails0.3 mi
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
5.5 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
5.5 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
17Baseball
7Soccer
6Tennis
3Softball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Hazle Township: May to August
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) | 9.5 | 10.6 | 11.8 | 13.3 | 14.5 | 15.1 | 14.8 | 13.8 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.8 | 9.2 |
| High (°F) | 32 | 35 | 43 | 57 | 67 | 74 | 79 | 77 | 70 | 59 | 47 | 36 |
| Rain (in) | 3.4 | 2.6 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 4.2 | 4.7 | 4.7 | 4.5 | 4.9 | 4.6 | 3.6 | 3.8 |
February is the driest month (2.6 in) and July the warmest (highs of 79 °F). 4.9 inches fall in September, the wettest month. The climate in Hazle Township →
Next door
Hazle Township and its neighbors
Hazle Township has the most mapped trails of the 8 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Hazle Township29 miFoster Township27 miButler Township9.6 miSugarloaf Township7.0 miBanks Township5.1 miHazleton4.6 miKline Township1.7 miPardeesville0.1 mi
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hazle Township | 4% | 0.6 | 121 | 47% | B+ |
| Hazleton | 1% | 0.8 | 2 | 99% | B− |
| Butler Township | 11% | 0.3 | 45 | 12% | B |
| Pardeesville | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Banks Township | 28% | 0.4 | 10 | 79% | B+ |
| Foster Township | 15% | 0.6 | 75 | 43% | A− |
| Sugarloaf Township | 6% | 0.3 | 6 | 23% | C+ |
| Kline Township | 30% | 0.1 | 911 | 69% | A− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Hazle Township
How much of Hazle Township is conserved land?
4% of its land, against a typical 8% for a Pennsylvania town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Hazle Township’s trails?
Catawissa Recreation Area - Weiser State Forest and Butler Preserve don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Hazle Township?
5.5 miles of bike routes are on the map: 5.5 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Hazle Township?
64,880 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Hazle Township or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 1,257 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Hazle Township have?
Ahead of 71% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #455 of 1,037 in Pennsylvania. 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 Hazle Township 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 →