A wetland is an aquatic environment. We knew that, and yet here we were.
The plan was to rent a canoe from the marina at the south end of Owasco Lake in Cayuga County and paddle along the inlet, taking in the Owasco Flats Nature Preserve at our journalistic leisure.
We learned that morning, though, that the marina’s ownership does not consider boating season to have quite begun in early June. Its advertised rental business was not yet fully open for the year and the canoes were still in storage.
Discouraged but not deterred, photographer Max Schulte and I proceeded to Plan B: exploring the wetlands on foot. This seemed sub-optimal yet sufficient. We applied insect repellent, double-knotted our boots and made our way toward the loop trail displayed on a map in the parking lot.
A wetland is an aquatic environment. A hiking trail in an aquatic environment requires a sturdy boardwalk, and Owasco Flats doesn’t have one. We waded instead through thigh-high foliage on a faint foot path, mostly following the mucky west bank of the inlet.
To our left, box turtles basked and squadrons of fish dodged bellyflopping bass. Vireos, woodpeckers and warblers conversed overhead, interrupted once by a bald eagle coasting dramatically over the water.
We watched it all wistfully, but not for long. Back on less-than-dry land, the mud was sucking our boots nearly off our feet. A menacing rash appeared on Max’s leg shortly after we passed one of the half-dozen or so signs warning of poison ivy and ticks.
What a glorious time we would have had in a canoe.
A wetland is an aquatic environment.
What Owasco Flats lacks as a hiking trail, it makes up for in ecological significance.
Covering about 2,000 acres between Owasco Lake and the village of Moravia, the flats are a natural floodplain with an important role in maintaining water quality in the lake, the drinking water source for the city of Auburn. Aquatic vegetation and sunken detritus slow the water entering the lake, allowing time for sediment and pollutants like phosphorus to settle out.
“It frequently floods — and that’s a good thing,” said Olivia Green, a freshwater resilience specialist for the Nature Conservancy. “That’s what we want to see in floodplains.”
The 1990s were a low point for the flats. An ill-advised canal through the wetland greatly impaired its ecological functioning, and garbage dumping had reached crisis proportions. A group of concerned citizens organized an advocacy organization, the Owasco Flats Nature Reserve, Inc., to raise public awareness and funds for restoration.
A series of land acquisitions over the last 20 years by Cayuga County, the Nature Conservancy and the state Department of Environmental Conservation add up to about 700 acres under protection, Green said. The state is currently funding wetland restoration work as part of a plan to combat high phosphorus levels and increasing algae blooms in Owasco Lake.
“About 50 percent of the total flow to the lake comes in through the flats,” said Adam Effler, executive director of the Owasco Lake Watershed Management Council. “When you can slow down water flow and create retention areas to allow the sediment to settle out, you can really reduce the amount of pollution entering the lake.”
Most of the flats is closed for recreational purposes. At the north end, 500 acres or so are set aside as the Owasco Flats Nature Reserve, with an access road, parking and boat launch off state Route 38 by South Shore Marina. There is also parking and a boat launch farther south off Warner Road near where the inlet meets Mill Creek.
After we spent about 30 minutes slipping and squelching along the inlet, the trail came to a comparative opening alive with dragonflies, a few short wooden bridges covered in swamp water like steeping tea bags and the remains of a trestle from the Lehigh Valley Railroad. We paused here to stomp the mud off our boots, check for ticks and survey for birds.
The flats is a very active bird habitat, with more than 200 species observed there in recent years. Those include the Virginia rail, a reclusive wading bird with a bright orange bottom beak, as well as a wide variety of warblers during the spring and fall migrations. It is also an important home for the many salamanders that breed there.
The abandoned railroad bed is supposed to serve as an elevated path for the return leg of the hike. Here, too, we found the marketing materials sorely misaligned with reality. Where we managed to make out the trail, it was crowded by huge proliferations of multiflora roses. We dodged some and ducked others but eventually gave up, nettled and nicked, and clambered up the embankment to finish our stroll along the shoulder of busy Route 38.
It was not the visit to the flats that we had hoped for, but the fault was ours. Next time, we will be better prepared. A wetland is an aquatic environment. gofingerlakes.org/locations/owasco-flats
Justin Murphy is a contributor to CITY.
This article appears in Dec 1-31, 2024.
