Paul Szmal: And welcome back to FLX Morning on Finger Lakes Newsradio. It is 8.39. We're joined this morning by Dr. Adam Effler from the Awasco Lake Watershed Management Council. Adam, good morning. How are you, sir?
Adam Effler: Good morning, Paul. I'm doing fine, thanks. Thank you for having me on this morning.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, much appreciated. Beautiful day, isn't it?
Adam Effler: Absolutely gorgeous. I'm excited about this spring weather. No doubt about it. And also excited about apparently a new stewardship of a parcel in the town of Venice. What can you tell me about that?
Paul Szmal: Sure, absolutely. We're excited about this one. Just for some background here, your listeners may recall that the Awasco Lake Watershed Management Council recently got underway with land stewardship under its organizational objectives towards protecting the watershed. Back in 2023, the Nature Conservancy transferred a property in the town of Simpronius to the council that would become what we call the Fillmore Nature Preserve. That's a 161-acre property and was identified as one of the 10 most impactful parcels in the Awasco Lake Watershed with the greatest effect on water quality if preserved from development. So that's sort of the idea of these preserves and protecting lands in perpetuity. Really, we're trying to harness and protect what we refer to as ecosystem services, services provided by the forests and the wetlands therein that have the capacity to help contain sediments and nutrients and stabilize those sediments and really reducing impacts to the receiving water body, which is, of course, Awasco Lake.
And so recently, the Nature Conservancy has expressed interest in having the council own and steward two additional properties poised for preservation within the Awasco Lake Watershed. One is a 72-acre parcel in Venice, which is mostly dense wetlands. And the other is a 100-acre parcel in Groton, which includes mixed farmland. And so it was just yesterday during the Management Council's board meeting that the board resolved to have the transfer move forward from the Nature Conservancy to the Management Council of that 72-acre parcel in Venice and take it on, both in terms of ownership and future stewardship. So we're really looking forward to this project.
Paul Szmal: So now that means that the Awasco Lake Watershed Management Council actually owns that 72-acre parcel?
Adam Effler: Well, so we will own the parcel, right? So closing on these land parcels towards land preservation, I mean, it's very similar to what one would experience closing on a house, right? Of course, we have closing documentation that needs to be pulled together and making sure that everyone is satisfied with the deal and we're accounting for all of our due diligence along the way.
Paul Szmal: Once the paperwork is done and the T's are crossed and the I's are dotted, when we talk about stewardship, what exactly does that term mean, Adam?
Adam Effler: Right. So it's important with these land preserves to track the extent to which they are remaining in that physical condition that we want to preserve, right? So we want to make sure that in this case, the dense wetlands are protected, that there's not the potential for adjacent land owner encroachment, that we keep a keen eye out for the potential spread of nuisance invasive species, and then also that the preserve doesn't act as a garbage dump. There are instances where folks will find these areas and dispose of their refuse there. So one feature that's frankly attractive to us is beyond our annual inspection commitments, it's perfectly fine to have sort of a passive stewardship role, right? Essentially, it's just allowing that preserve to remain undeveloped, ensuring it remains undeveloped in perpetuity.
I gather that the Venice parcel, unlike the Fillmore Nature Preserve, probably will not move forward towards the development of additional public access in the form of a public access lot and development of trails and associated educational information. So again, but preserving the land and those ecosystem services is a really important target for us.
Paul Szmal: And as you mentioned, Adam, this is not the first time that the Wasco Lake Watershed Management Council has acquired stewardship of a parcel of property.
Adam Effler: Yes, that's correct. So our first was that Fillmore Nature Preserve in the towns of Simpronius and Summerhill. And that's been a wonderful project for us thus far. And we're excited about this new opportunity. But I'd like to make mention of the variety of partners who are all working within the Wasco Lake Watershed towards watershed protection via land acquisition initiatives. So of course, as I mentioned, these particular parcels, both the Simpronius and now the Venice parcels, were acquired by the Nature Conservancy through the New York State Water Quality Improvement Project program that they offer through their consolidated funding application via grants on an annual basis.
We also work very closely with the Finger Lakes Land Trust, and they've been doing more recently an exceptional amount of land stewardship and land acquisition activities within the watershed. They actually accepted a donation of a conservation easement of 160 acres of farmland in the town of Scipio back in 2023. And that easement expanded vegetative buffers. So again, buffers along streams, really, is what that refers to, that are intended to reduce runoff to the lake and can capture sediments and help to load some of the phosphorus within the vegetation and also provide an opportunity for habitat for the various species that reside along those stream corridors. So the Finger Lakes Land Trust has been a really important player. They also recently were awarded $1.2 million through the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Water Quality Improvement Project program. That was in 2024. And they've been working with local landowners and partners in the watershed, including the Management Council, towards protecting approximately 500 acres through direct acquisition and the use of those perpetual conservation easements. So we're thrilled to work with the Finger Lakes Land Trust on their projects as well.
There was a recent announcement again on behalf of the Nature Conservancy with the addition of 92 acres of the Owasco Flats Wildlife Management Area in the town of Moravia in Cayuga County. And that more than doubles the size of the Wildlife Management Area down in the Owasco Flats. So props to the Nature Conservancy and the Department of Environmental Conservation for New York State for moving that one forward. And the last one I'll mention here, Paul, is recently an announcement was made by the DEC regarding a group called Ducks Unlimited that was awarded about a quarter of a million dollars by the DEC, again through that WQIP program, that Water Quality Improvement Project grant program. And that's towards additional restoration activities for wetlands within that Owasco Flats Wildlife Management Area. So a number of players all working collaboratively towards leveraging land acquisition and land preservation for the benefit of protecting Owasco Lake. So very exciting work here ahead of us.
Paul Szmal: And I think I heard you mention the words in perpetuity.
Adam Effler: Yes, yeah, that's correct. I mean, so the idea here is, you know, fundamentally, we are looking to protect lands from development. And so if you look at the history of land preservation across the United States, many of our national parks came from very large-scale preservation initiatives. And we're fortunate for the founders of those initiatives because we now have protected parcels across the country that allow for park space, recreational space for visitors and protected lands that otherwise, if they were not protected up front, would very likely lead to a development condition. So we're really looking to protect those lands from development over the long term.
Paul Szmal: Okay. And that means then that the primary use of the land that has been acquired here through stewardship is basically just going to be natural habitat.
Adam Effler: That's correct. That's right. In some instances, as with the Fillmore Nature Preserve, we've been able to garner the various trail networks for public use. And I think that that, you know, when it makes sense is important, right? Because we're also trying to welcome the public to these spaces where, you know, we're relevant and we're applicable so that folks can enjoy nature study, respectful nature study, and can enjoy the land as a publicly accessible space. And so, you know, there's a lot to be said about the potential for land acquisition and advancing land preservation in a watershed context. And so namely, it's, you know, it's about protecting the parcel, but also preserving what I mentioned earlier, those ecosystem services. So allowing water essentially, especially in wetland areas, to be retained in space, to be allowed to settle sediments, to be allowed to cycle nutrients in a way that if that land was cleared, would encumber runoff and would also allow for more rapid discharge of those sediments and nutrients towards the lake, which is really what we don't want to see happen.
Paul Szmal: Absolutely. Dr. Effler, as always, we appreciate the information. Thank you, sir.
Adam Effler: My pleasure, Paul. Thank you so much for the opportunity. It is 8.50 on FLX Morning.
