Finger Lakes Land Trust gets easement gift to keep 3,000 feet of Cayuga Lake shoreline undeveloped

SPRINGPORT, N.Y. — The Finger Lakes Land Trust announced Friday that it has accepted a conservation-easement donation that means more than 3,000 feet of Cayuga Lake shoreline remains undeveloped. The land includes 58 associated acres located between the villages of Aurora and Union Springs.

The land is one of Cayuga Lake’s longest stretches of undeveloped shoreline, the Finger Lakes Land Trust said in a news release. The easement protects mature shoreline woodlands including cottonwood and oak trees, with some that are more than 150 years old. The agreement also provides for continued agricultural use of fields that are visible from nearby State Route 90 — the Cayuga Lake Scenic Byway.

Conservation easements are legal agreements that limit future development while allowing the land to remain in private ownership, the release explained. The easement agreement is recorded in the land records and is binding on future owners of the land. The Finger Lakes Land Trust said it will monitor compliance with the agreement’s terms.

The Harris McIntosh Trust owns the newly protected land, which is adjacent to Great Gully Farm — a scenic 650-acre tract upon which the Finger Lakes Land Trust already holds a conservation easement, the trust stated. The late Harris McIntosh grew up in the nearby village of Cayuga, leaving the area to become a prominent businessman in the Toledo, Ohio area. He acquired the property and the adjacent Great Gully Farm as a summer home for his family, the Finger Lakes Land Trust said.

“The family’s desire was to develop a way to preserve the conservation values of the property in such a way that future owners might also enjoy the property’s rich amenities,” Vince McLaughlin, vice president and trust officer of KeyBank N.A., and the trustee of the Harris McIntosh Trust, said in the news release.

Finger Land Trust Executive Director Andy Zepp said the property offers habitat for fish and wildlife, including bald eagles and osprey.

With this new agreement, the Finger Lakes Land Trust says it now has conserved more than one mile of undeveloped shoreline on Cayuga Lake.

The Finger Lakes Land Trust is a membership-supported, nonprofit that works with landowners and local communities to conserve key parcels of undeveloped lands in the 12-county Finger Lakes Region. The organization says it currently owns and manages 34 conservation areas that are open to the public and holds conservation easements on 114 properties that remain in private ownership such as this property on Cayuga Lake.