The park features forested hiking trails, rental campsites, fishing, boat access and a nature center.

[7] The park's popularity and eventual crowding resulted in a proposed $1 entrance fee per car on weekends and summer holidays in 1980 (equivalent to $4 in 2023)[8] but this was rejected by the county commission.

[9] The park was expanded in 1980 with the purchase of an additional 800 acres (320 ha) for the Southwest Nature Preserve.

[11] Part of the park's nature preserve was permanently dedicated as a prairie habitat in 1994 as part of a deal where endangered Schweinitz's sunflower (Helianthus schweinitzii) plants were transplanted to the park from a widening of Providence Road in Matthews.

[15] Crime came to McDowell Nature Preserve in the 2000s when a rapist working at an Exxon gas station in Charlotte carjacked a woman, drove her to the park and raped her in the forest.