The Western New York Land Conservancy is singling out more than 700 acres of forested land for protection. The land will be part of its Western New York Wildway plan, spanning five locations across Allegany and Cattaraugus Counties.
Most of the land will be publicly accessible, which is a key consideration when it comes to targeting areas for protection, said Andrew Gaerte, the Land Conservancy's Director of Development and Communications.
“There are properties that we have that are so ecologically sensitive it's not safe to have, you know, an extensive trail system through there," he said. "But public accessibility is really important to us, and we have publicly accessible trails in over 20 of our nature preserves here in Western New York.”
Purchasing and maintaining the land will cost more than $1 million, though $150,000 has been secured and several grants are pending, with just under a million left to go, Gaerte said.
A majority of the money will go toward maintenance and renovation needs between the 539 acres of wetlands in Allegany County, and the 193 acres of wildlands in Cattaraugus County.
"We really like properties that have connectivity to other things," he said. "Both projects that we've got going on this year are very close or touch state forest land, which expands sort of the protected footprint here in Western New York, allowing things like black bear and fisher and bobcat to move freely in larger protected areas, like they used to in the past."
