Download:  Owasco Flats Conservation Planning and Stakeholder Survey Project (PDF)

Published June 2007

Prepared by Mark Whitmore and the Finger Lakes Land Trust

Located at the south end of Owasco Lake, the Owasco Flats is a diverse floodplain encompassing approximately 1500 acres of swamps, emergent marsh, cropland, and fallow fields.  The Flats has long been recognized for its ecological significance as well as its value to the health of Owasco Lake.  Many have recognized the important role the wetlands play in buffering the lake as well as the potential for an even greater benefit to water quality through the restoration of additional wetlands in this area.  Though recognized as a priority project of New York State’s first Open Space Plan in 1992, efforts to ensure the future of the Flats have been slow to move forward.

Recognizing that the future of the Flats depended upon a diverse array of public and private stakeholders and landowners, the Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board commissioned the Finger Lakes Land Trust to undertake a year-long study of the ecology of the Flats, and of stakeholder and landowner perspectives concerning the area.

Download:  Owasco Flats Conservation Planning and Stakeholder Survey Project (PDF)

You can download other regional conservation plans in PDF format.  See all plans here.