The Land Trust acquired 20 acres along Owego Creek adjacent to its Goetchius Wetland Preserve. The property is located on Flat Iron Road in the town of Caroline, Tompkins County. The addition will protect over 3,000 feet of streambank along the West Branch of Owego Creek, a tributary of the Susquehanna River.

The property has a mix of wetlands and meadows and features panoramic vistas of neighboring Hammond Hill and Robinson Hollow State Forests. As a former agricultural site, this preserve addition provides an opportunity to restore grazed wetlands, thereby enhancing habitat for wetland-dependent migratory birds. Protection of the property will also improve water quality in Owego Creek and further downstream in the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay watersheds.

Photo: FLLT

This project is the latest of eleven completed by the Land Trust in the Owego Creek watershed, where it has already protected nearly 850 acres. Owego Creek is one of the Finger Lakes region’s premiere trout streams. The headwaters support a native brook trout population and provide critical juvenile rearing habitat. Accordingly, Owego Creek has priority conservation status with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The acquisition was completed with multiple partners including the Upper Susquehanna Coalition (USC) and Tompkins County’s Capital Reserve Fund for Natural, Scenic, and Recreation Resource Protection. The Land Trust is developing a management plan in partnership with the USC which will include extensive plantings of native trees and shrubs to restore a buffer to the creek.  Long-term management goals for the site include restoration and maintenance of streamside wetlands, forests, and wet meadows.