$10,000 is going to help improve access and accessibility at one Cayuga County Nature Preserve.
The Fred L Emerson Foundation has awarded the money to the Owasco Lake Watershed Management Council (OLWMC) for its conservation education kiosk, access lot, and trail network project at the Fillmore Nature Preserve in Sempronius and Summerhill.
Doctor Adam Effler with the OLWMC told Finger Lakes News Radio the Emerson Foundation’s award will cover the costs of materials and labor for the kiosk, lot materials such as gravel, educational signage, and trail markers.
Effler added that the remaining labor is being done in kind by local governments.
“The remaining labor is entirely in-kind: Moravia and Summerhill Town Highway Departments to haul the gravel, the Town of Owasco to build the lot, and a Cornell University student group volunteering to design (using mapping software) and mark the trail network,” Effler said. “The Owasco Watershed Lake Association plans to plant a rain garden adjacent to the lot.”
Work is already underway to prepare the site for construction in the spring. Effler hopes to work with the Cornell team over the winter to plan and design the trails.
The OWLMC took ownership of the 161-acre property in January from the Nature Conservancy.
