Saturday, June 13, 10 am – Habitat Gardening in Central New York (HGCNY, a chapter of Wild Ones) “Show-me/Help-me” field trip to the Skaneateles Conservation Area. Started with a tour of some of the old-fields of the former Marcellus Soil and Water Conservation Research Station known locally as the “Federal Farm.” As with other recently-abandoned agricultural land of the region, the overpopulation of white-tail deer has degraded the habitat provided by these fields to the point where exotic invasive plants predominate. This tour pointed out what is being attempted to reduce the invasive vegetation, and suggestions were provided for possible solutions to the problems of both effective removal of exotics, replacement with natives, and future protection both new and existing beneficial plants. SUNY-ESF professor and Skaneateles resident, Greg McGee along with PhD ecology student Geoff Griffiths provided input for the first part of the tour at the Federal Farm, and then led us on a tour of their Wildflower Restoration projects near Guppy Falls on the old Guppy Farm.
Saturday, June 20, 10 am – Skaneateles Town officials, SCA Advisory Committee members, and the general public are encouraged to attend a repeat of the June 13 tour, during which ESF PhD ecology student Geoff Griffiths will provide insight into his widflower restoration project at the Guppy Farm site and help answer questions at the Federal Farm old fields. Those wishing to attend can RSVP skaak2@gmail.com or just show up at the Old Seneca Turnpike parking lot at 10 AM.
All photographs on the page were taken by Karen Gilboyne.
The Skaneateles Conservation Area 