Photo by Tina WrightThe Van Buskirk Preserve, looking downstream from an old stone bridge on Van Buskirk Gulf Road in Newfield.

Ithaca College, the Finger Lakes Land Trust and the Town of Ithaca finalized an agreement that will protect 100 acres of wetlands in Tompkins County with a signing ceremony on March 12 at the South Hill campus. The college has created about 4.5 acres of compensatory wetlands in compensation for the loss of 2.77 acres of wetlands on the site of the new IC athletics and events center.

The college not only granted conservation easements to the Finger Lakes Land Trust for this small area, but also for two other wetland parcels nearby off Coddington Road. The easements for all of this land, some 25 acres, will pass to the Town of Ithaca in five years.

A separate agreement places almost 75 acres that Ithaca College owns in the Town of Newfield into a conservation easement with the Finger Lakes Land Trust. Donated to the college by Bob Robinson, the wooded land contains part of the Van Buskirk Glen and is listed as a Tompkins County Unique Natural Area.

Andy Zepp, executive director of the Finger Lakes Land Trust, thanked the Ithaca College team. “The wetlands being set aside at Van Buskirk Glen are really priceless natural areas. It’s a testament to the college’s commitment to the land.”

Herb Engman, supervisor for the Town of Ithaca, mentioned that the Ithaca College Natural Lands Committee, which played a key role in seeing this wetlands process through, recently received the Town of Ithaca’s annual award for the entity or person who has contributed substantially to protecting the town’s environment.

“I just want to emphasize that this is truly a creative solution to the problem of mitigating the construction of the athletic facility,” Engman said. “It’s creative in the sense that it now protects 100 acres of land in perpetuity. But this unique collaboration, with a private college, a private non-profit and a municipality, seems to be a rather unusual feat. It’s been wonderful to work with both Ithaca College and the Finger Lakes Land Trust and hoping we can do it again in the future.”

IC President Tom Rochon cited Ron LeCain of LeCain Environmental Services for working hard to develop the mitigating wetlands on campus. A biologist and consultant, LeCain said that the wetlands design came together with collaboration of all parties, who determined what was needed.

The federal Clean Water Act drives the whole process, LeCain explained in an interview. If you take away a wetland, then you must replace it with an equivalent or larger area as close as possible in the watershed. So how is a wetland created? LeCain answers with a smile, “With water. You have to get the hydrology right first, adjusting and altering to get it right, in this case berms to slow water down. If you increase the retention time, you get saturated soils. You get saturated soils, you get wetland vegetation.”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers oversees the monitoring of newly created wetlands for at least five years and does not end oversight until the project meets the corps’ approval.

The Natural Lands Committee at Ithaca College (www.ithaca.edu/naurallands) manages almost 500 acres of natural lands, the major portion being the South Hill Natural Area adjacent to campus. When Jason Hamilton, assistant professor of biology, came to Ithaca College six years ago, he says that the natural lands at IC were ignored. “Nobody really paid them attention.”

Hamilton started paying attention. He pushed the administration to manage the natural areas for conservation and teaching opportunities. Hamilton now co-chairs the Natural Lands Committee with Rick Couture, associate vice-president for facilities. After the wetlands signing, Rochon presented Hamilton with the ceremonial pen, saying that the biology professor was probably more important than anyone at Ithaca College for promoting sustainability and care of the land.

Hamilton thanked Emma Hileman, the Natural Lands Committee’s official intern, for all her help on the wetlands project. Hileman is an IC student majoring in the new environmental studies and sciences program there.

The Van Buskirk Preserve in Newfield features an important stream for rainbow trout, a gorge and a waterfall, and many species of trees and plants. The area is managed to keep disturbance at a minimum and has not been opened to the public.

TAGGED WITH: Finger Lakes Land Trust, Ithaca College, Tompkins County, Wetlands