The Finger Lakes Land Trust (FLLT) today announced it has purchased 35 acres in the Willseyville Valley in the town of Caroline, Tompkins County. Directly across Coddington Road from the organization’s Eberhard Nature Preserve and the adjacent boundary of Danby State Forest, the parcel is an important landscape connection piece in the Emerald Necklace, a growing complex of conservation lands.

With 1,460 feet of frontage on Willseyville Creek and 23 acres of wetlands, the property is part of the White Church-Willseyville Swamp, a Tompkins County Unique Natural Area which serves as the headwaters to Catatonk Creek, a classified trout stream. Across this valley lies a Cornell Botanic Gardens Natural Area and the 5,318-acre Shindagin Hollow State Forest. This landscape can be traversed by the Finger Lakes Trail, which skirts the newly acquired property along an old railroad bed.

Photo: Chris Ray

The FLLT intends to transfer the parcel to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) as an addition to Danby State Forest. Partnerships with New York State are a key component of the Land Trust’s efforts to expand public access to outdoor recreational opportunities while safeguarding water quality and wildlife habitat. This is the fourth project the organization has undertaken to assist DEC with the expansion of Danby State Forest, where it has added nearly 200 acres to date.

The Emerald Necklace is a proposed greenbelt linking 50,000 acres of existing conservation land in an arc around Ithaca, from the Finger Lakes National Forest in the west to the Hammond Hill State Forest in the east. Together, these lands host 78 miles of the Finger Lakes Trail, two National Audubon Society-designated Important Bird Areas, numerous Finger Lakes Land Trust Preserves and conservation easements, several state forests and parks, and dozens of Tompkins County-designated Unique Natural Areas. The Emerald Necklace is also recognized as a priority project within New York State’s Open Space Plan.