Conservation of land in Cayuga County called a win for Cayuga Lake
The permanent protection of some sensitive land in Cayuga County is designed to help protect the long-term quality of Cayuga Lake.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation and the Finger Lakes Land Trust on Friday announced a perpetual conservation easement on 260 acres in the town of Summerhill as part of the state's Water Quality Improvement Project program.
According to a news release, $921,000 from the program will help protect multiple properties within the Cayuga Shallows area and to "conserve properties with land cover including forests, wetlands, and open space that benefits source water protection."
One of the properties protected using a portion of grant funds is the 260-acre Hall property in the town of Summerhill. The property features 10,000 feet of frontage on Fall Creek, the source of Cornell University's drinking water supply and largest tributary to Cayuga Lake. The easement will include a 120-acre buffer zone comprised of high-quality wetland on this section of Fall Creek that will be left in its natural state.
The property includes diverse upland forest, wetlands that include rare orchid species, and agricultural fields that will be left in production according to the terms of the easement. This project is part of a broader effort, the land trust said, to secure high-quality fish and wildlife habitat in and around Fall Creek's headwaters. This area supports native brook trout and a portion of it is located within one of New York's Important Bird Areas. The Hall property is located in proximity to other permanently protected lands including Summerhill State Forest and the FLLT's Dorothy McIlroy Bird Sanctuary, which is adjacent to Lake Como, the headwaters of Fall Creek.
Protection of the property helps secure Cornell University's drinking water, which is drawn from Fall Creek, and also helps maintain municipal water supplies drawn from Cayuga Lake. The land trust said it is actively working on acquiring additional parcels in the area using the remaining grant funds in the Cayuga Lake watershed.
"Clean water begins on land and DEC and our partners are continuing to transform State investments into water quality solutions that will last for generations," DEC Interim Commissioner Sean Mahar said. "DEC is proud to again partner with the Finger Lakes Land Trust to preserve vulnerable headwaters and help protect Cayuga Lake water quality at the source for generations to come."
"Completion of this conservation easement is a win for water quality in Fall Creek, the largest tributary to Cayuga Lake," Finger Lakes Land Trust President Andrew Zepp said in a statement. "We're grateful to the landowners and New York State for their commitment to this project through the source water protection program."
Conservation easements are voluntary legal agreements that permanently limit future land use in order to protect the land's conservation value. Lands subject to conservation easements remain in private ownership, on local tax rolls, and available for traditional uses such as farming and hunting.
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