The Finger Lakes Land Trust (FLLT) has protected 90 acres at Eastmere Farms along East Lake Road and Pork Street in the town of Skaneateles, Onondaga County. Funds from New York State’s Water Quality Improvement Project (WQIP) program and private donors were used to purchase a perpetual conservation easement to protect the property.
Located just east of Skaneateles Lake, Eastmere Farms contains a mix of woodlands, wetlands, and agricultural fields used to grow both corn and hay. The eastern portion of the property features 4,744 feet of frontage along Shotwell Brook, a significant tributary to Skaneateles Lake, and 2,662 feet on an unnamed tributary to the lake that passes through the western edge.
Photo: Chris Ray
The conservation easement will safeguard these tributaries, protecting the quality of water entering Skaneateles Lake, a drinking water source for residents of Syracuse and surrounding communities. Additionally, several ponds and a wetland restoration project completed by multiple partners in 2020 capture stormwater, leading to a significant reduction in sediment entering the lake.
The WQIP program funds projects that directly improve water quality or habitat, promote flood risk reduction, restoration, and enhanced flood and climate resiliency, or protect a drinking water source.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Amanda Lefton said, “Protecting the source of unfiltered affordable drinking water for the City of Syracuse is a wise investment to sustain reliable, abundant, and clean water into the future. DEC is proud to partner with the Finger Lakes Land Trust to preserve the Skaneateles watershed’s clean water at its source and applaud Governor Kathy Hochul for leading in water infrastructure investments across New York State.”
“The completion of this project stands as a significant milestone for our community, demonstrating the unwavering commitment to safeguarding the source of drinking water that sustains the City of Syracuse,” said Mayor of Syracuse Sharon F. Owens. “This achievement reinforces the essential responsibility we share in protecting and preserving this critical resource for current residents and for generations to come.”
This property adds to a growing corridor of FLLT-conserved land in this area, including the newly created Shotwell Brook Conservation Area, just a short distance upstream, and an adjacent private property protected with a conservation easement.
“Completion of this project is vital to water quality within Shotwell Brook,” said Finger Lakes Land Trust president Andrew Zepp. “And Shotwell is particularly important for drinking water since it enters the lake near the intake for the water supply for the City of Syracuse.”
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. The easement on the Eastmere property limits future development to a single residence and allows for continued agricultural use while providing for vegetated buffers adjacent to streams and wetlands.
