By Joyce Kryszak
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wbfo/local-wbfo-831534.mp3
Buffalo, NY – WBFO has learned that Erie County recently made buildings at the Woodlands Park near Sardinia off limits. And that could endanger environmental training at UB and for other schools and groups.
Since 2001, UB and the not-for-profit group Earth Spirit have had an ideal arrangement with the county to use the 650 acre former 4-H camp. UB and other groups used the property and buildings as indoor and outdoor classrooms to train future environmentalists. In exchange, Earth Spirit provided a full-time caretaker from Americorps to watch over the property and programs.
But last month, the county evicted the caretaker and made the other buildings off limits too. Erie County Parks Commissioner James Hornung said it was unavoidable.
"Under code compliance the buidlings don't meet the code," said Hornung. "And we're very concerned that health and safety is number one for all the kids and the adults who might be out at the facility."
He said repairs could cost over a quarter million dollars. And Hornung said that's money the county doesn't have. But he said UB and the others still can use the property - just not the buildings.
Sandy Geffner is co-director of Earth Spirit and coordinator for UB Environmental Studies. Geffner says the property alone, without protection, bathrooms or classrooms is useless to them.
"We were hoping that we would simply be able to work on these issues as a partnership and gradually bring the facility up to code as it should be," said Geffner.
That's how it worked in the past. Geffner said, over the years, Earth Spirit has invested about $10,000 in the main building. Without that building he said countless programs are at a stand still.
That includes the UB Environmental Studies Program. It holds courses there in everything from wildlife management to environmental ethics. Raphael Rosenbaum is an Environmental Studies major. He said the lost resource puts added stress on an already stressed program.
UB students aren't the only ones potentially being shut out. Program coordinator Geffner said about 4,500 hundred people from throughout Western New York used the Woodlands last year. But Geffner said the county is losing out too without a caretaker on site who can guard against vandalism and other illegal activity.
Still, Geffner and Commissioner Hornung say they are working toward a solution that will preserve the unique partnership that has worked for nearly a decade.
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