Natural Feature Focus Areas

Last night Kate Hackett from the Tompkins County Planning Department presented the first of several scheduled public information sessions introducing the Natural Feature Focus Areas the planning department has been developing. Eight of the fifteen areas identified are, at least partially, in the the Town of Dryden.

• Wetlands Upland Forest (pdf) (crossing Peruville Road)
• Owasco Inlet (these are all pdf's)
• The Fens (northeast Dryden including McLean Bog)
• Airport ponds and wetlands
• Fall Creek (and you know how long it takes my modem to open pdf's)
• Cascadilla Creek
• Six Mile Creek
• Forest Lands (southeast Dryden - pdf not available yet)

For each area, the planning department has identified major reasons for the importance of area including, water quality, critical habitat, outdoor recreation, sustainable timber harvesting and many more. Protection and management issues for each key function are enumerated and the planning department is now seeking public input on how landowner management practices and municipal priorities affect or are affected by these functions and issues.

I highly recommend reading about the areas that interest you. Then plan to attend public information sessions on May 22 at the Tompkins County Public Library or May 23 at the McLean Fire Department.