As tuberculosis cases diminished, the Preventorium sponsored the Cardiac Clinic to serve underprivileged children afflicted with heart disease.

[4][1] In January 2011, having experienced funding difficulties, CNC merged with the Paleontological Research Institution, with programs continuing at both locations.

[6] The CNC Lodge is heated by a biomass furnace designed and installed as a Cornell engineering student project[2][7] and features exhibits combining live, mounted, and fossil specimens with interactive stations to highlight the ecology and biodiversity of the Cayuga Basin.

CNC's other facilities include Smith Woods, an old-growth forest; TreeTops, a six-story tree house built by the Ithaca High School class of 2000;,[1]: 18  a zoological collection consisting of 30 animals; a seasonal Butterfly Garden, a turtle pond; and a 120-acre campus[5] with five miles of hiking trails.

The forest was originally owned by New York City businessman Henry Atterbury Smith, who used it intermittently as a summer residence.