Hi, Until recently the NYS Department of Corrections ran a shock incarceration camp on the grounds of the former Willard Psychiatric facility. NYS has closed the shock incarceration camp and Seneca County is now trying to identify the best use of this land for he future. Last month the County IDA and its consultant held a public open house where they solicited ideas. Sarah Davis, the IDA Executive Director, asked for additional public comment to be emailed to her.
A follow up email from Ms. Davis stated in part: > Before finalizing the concept site plan, we will host another workshop > to present some initial concepts and make sure that we understood and > incorporated your feedback accurately. We will send you another email > to let you know the date once it is finalized. In the meantime, the > materials from the first workshop have been posted to the Seneca > County IDA website: > https://www.senecacountyida.org/highest-best-use-study. You can find > the information sheets, boards, and maps there, as well as more > information about the consulting team working with us on the plan. As the linked maps show, this is a very large parcel of land that includes a long stretch of lakefront - at the meeting they said there was a mile of lakefront. There are many buildings on the property, most of which have not been maintained and will have to be torn down, although it might be possible to save a few. A large part of the property has been pretty much untouched for 100 years. All of this land has been off limits to the public for decades and exactly what birds might be there is not known, but it includes a deep forested ravine, very similar to the ravine just south of there where Louisiana Waterthrush are heard, and a mixed upland forest that likely hosts both migrating and nesting passerines. There also is a small wetland. A 40+ acre portion on the east side of the county road has a half-dozen buildings in two clusters and some woodland, but much of it is grassland. The people running the meeting in July seemed to expect that the land to be divided up among several things. Why not set aside some of it for a bird sanctuary with a birding trail? There is state land close by - Sampson SP, Bonavista Golf Course, and Willard Wildlife Management Area - but none of these is managed for birding, or is particularly birder-friendly. Sampson, for example, recently was put under private management and a great deal of edge habitat was destroyed immediately after that. The disposition of the Willard land is a situation where relatively few voices can have a large impact. If you think that setting aside some of this parcel for birds and birding is a good idea, you might want to send an email to Ms. Davis <s.da...@senecacountyida.org <mailto:%22Sarah%20Davis%22%20<s.da...@senecacountyida.org>>> . If you live in Seneca County it would be good to mention that but it also is helpful for her to hear from others in the region who would make use of this property if it were birder-friendly. Somewhat to my surprise, it doesn't sound like the County is hoping the land will all be converted to expensive housing and businesses, but they need public comment to demonstrate that there is interest in other uses. Comments need not be formal or lengthy, but it would be helpful to say what you would like to see done with part of the property and how you would make use of that part. Alicia Plotkin -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
