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A CASE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE HEMLOCK-CANADICE WATERSHED IN A NATURAL STATE By Stephen Lewandowski SUMMARY The unusual history of the Hemlock-Canadice Lake watershed, among all the Finger Lakes, causes it to have unique values. Preservation of these special educational, scientific, geological, ecological, aesthetic, archaeological and historical values will require a comprehensive approach involving the City of Rochester, local residents, private not-for-profit conservation organizations, municipal governments and the State of New York. GEOLOGICAL HISTORY With the retreat of the Wisconsin glaciation thirteen thousand years ago, the globally unique Finger Lakes landscapes and watershed were revealed. (A watershed is the drainage area which contributes to the flow of a stream, lake or other body of water.) Pre-glacial river valleys, which flowed south to Chesapeake Bay, were broadened, smoothed, grooved, and plugged at the south ends with moraines (accumulations of earth and stones carried and deposited by a glacier) several hundred feet in depth. Drainages were reversed, and water began to flow through the Genesee and Oswego River systems. Eventually, Conesus, Hemlock, Canadice, and Honeoye Lakes drained north through the Genesee River to Lake Ontario; the other Finger Lakes drained to the east through the Oswego River system. The Hemlock-Canadice watershed, encompassing about 40,000 acres or 60 square miles, is small by comparison with the whole basin and the larger lakes' watersheds. Soils, vegetation, and even bedrock structures were altered in the millions of years of repeated glacial advances and retreats. The landscape was left with deeply glaciated lake beds arranged roughly parallel north to south, "hipped" hills, flattened hilltops, and "hanging" falls in the glacially enhanced gullies at the south ends of the lakes. Two of the lakes (Cayuga and Seneca) were grooved so deeply that their bottoms are below sea level. Geologist O. D. von Engeln wrote of the Finger Lakes area: "The manner of its origin is without parallel in all the wide world, resulting in the fashioning of the completely distinctive land forms and scenic features...." As the climate warmed, vegetation types changed; spruce and fir forests gave way to pine, which finally gave way to hardwood forests: beech, birch and maple in the southern Finger Lakes region and oak and chestnut in the northern section. EARLY USES OF THE LAND The first European settlers appeared in the Canadice-Hemlock watershed more than two hundred years ago. On September l2, l779, an army of 2000 “Continentals” under the leadership of Major-General John Sullivan moved against the Seneca Indians, skirting the north end of Hemlock Lake on its way to destroy Seneca villages in the Genesee Valley. Veterans of the campaign returned to settle the good lands they had seen. Philip Short and Seth Knowles were two of the first settlers of the region. In 1795, Knowles actually traveled south on the Hemlock Lake ice to his homestead site and became the first settler of Springwater. Typically, the first settlers utilized the waterways for transport of goods to market (before roads) or for water power (for food and wood processing). One hundred years ago, the Hemlock-Canadice watershed was similar to other small watersheds of the Genesee and Oswego River basins. A fairly large community of farmers lived in the watershed and made their living from dairies, grain and sheep. Though once cut over for timber to build upstate cities, the watershed was still well forested. Farmers used the forests for the game which inhabited them, as a fuel supply, and for an occasional timber sale. Like many in the state, the Hemlock-Canadice watershed reached a maximum population and a maximum level of deforestation around 1880. Farming and forestry weren't the only sources of income for residents of the watershed. The area also had a developing tourist economy. A plank road completed in l850 and a railroad spur built at the turn of the nineteenth century brought tourists from Rochester to summer homes, hotels and excursion boats steaming the length of Hemlock Lake. USE AS CITY OF ROCHESTER WATER SUPPLY At the same time that the watershed was being developed for agriculture, forestry and tourism, a growing concern in the City of Rochester, twenty-five miles north, would affect watershed land use. A cholera epidemic in 1852 convinced City officials that a source of clean water must be found. Hemlock Lake was chosen for its elevation and purity, and in 1873 a State law gave the City authority to take the lake's water. The first conduit to Rochester was installed in 1876, but its capacity was soon exceeded, and in 1891 a second conduit was authorized and constructed. Because other cities of the region were experiencing epidemics of waterborne disease, the City of Rochester moved to protect both the quantity and quality of its water source. The City began to purchase properties adjacent to Hemlock and Canadice Lakes in the late l800s, with the intent of acquiring all property within two hundred feet of the lake shores. Whole properties and, consequently, land at some distance from the lakes were purchased as part of the shoreline acquisition program. Buildings on the acquired properties were removed or destroyed. The City threatened, but apparently did not pursue, condemnation against unwilling sellers. In 1896 State legislation required the City to pay property taxes on its lands in the watershed. The law was intended to remove watershed municipalities' objections to City purchase of property but led to frequent litigation among the City, private interests, and watershed municipalities. In 1902, the City began to experience competition from a private water company withdrawing water, as Monroe County Water Authority currently does, from Lake Ontario. In the 1980s, the City was unable to consistently meet heightened turbidity standards promulgated by the U.S. E.P.A. under provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act. In 1986, the City agreed to comply with the N.Y.S. Department of Health's requirement of filtration, and a filtration plant was built and put into operation in August, 1993. VALUE OF THE WATERSHED AS NATURAL LAND Under the City's ownership, Hemlock-Canadice has developed differently from other Finger Lakes' watersheds and landscapes. In the last hundred years the other Finger Lakes have been increasingly developed for private use, while land in the Hemlock-Canadice watershed has been progressively withdrawn from private use. Small farms and cottages disappeared. The City has reforested its acquisitions with conifers, replanting over one-fifth of its 7200 acres of watershed land. Much of the cut-over land began to pass through stages of forest succession, and now signs of second-growth rather than virgin forest are apparent. Large blocks of newly introduced tree species, such as Scotch pine and Norway spruce, cover old sheep pastures. In the forested land, field stone walls, empty foundations and abandoned wells speak of previous human habitation and use. The land is not a wilderness; however, it is valuable natural land. A recently completed Forest Resource Management Plan for City Owned Property- Hemlock and Canadice Watershed designates 1200 acres as current "wildness areas" and "areas of wildness potential" in the watershed forest. Very little management is recommended for these areas, and what work is done should "favor perpetuation of, or progress toward, a self-maintaining climax forest stand." Some form of management is recommended for about 1750 acres of the watershed forest, but harvests are proposed to be small, selective and non-clearcut. Management recommendations have been cross-checked to be sure that they will meet goals of water quality assurance, maintenance of a healthy and varied forest, and wildlife habitat stabilization or enhancement. Undeveloped Lakes with Natural Shorelines The Hemlock-Canadice watershed is one of the largest blocks of natural land outside a state park in Western New York State. It contains two complete, undeveloped Finger Lakes, their woodlands, wildlife, and unique geology; Hemlock Lake is the largest lake in New York State with a completely natural shoreline. The land has been allowed to revert to natural conditions over the last hundred years. With no disturbance for another hundred years, the land will continue to evolve toward pre-settlement conditions. Since mankind will be even more crowded in years to come, large expanses of pristine, natural land will be increasingly unusual and valuable. The views from the lakes and from the hills around the lakes are remarkable for their uncluttered, wilderness-like aspects. The landscape features appear to have been unchanged for thousands of years. The context of the Hemlock-Canadice watershed is important. The closest similar landscapes are in the Adirondacks or the Alleghenies. Hemlock-Canadice is set in the densely populated, and rapidly growing, Finger Lakes region. A startling contrast exists between the built-up shorelines of Canandaigua or Conesus Lakes and the pristine shores of Hemlock and Canadice. The contrast is enhanced by the densely wooded hillsides around Hemlock and Canadice Lakes and the fragmented and developed hillsides surrounding the other Finger Lakes. Wildlife and Ecology The ecology of the Hemlock-Canadice watershed is less well-known than that of other Finger Lake watersheds. Documentation of rare, unique and endangered species in the Hemlock-Canadice watershed is not complete. It is known that the habitat is sufficiently special and protected for one of the few pairs of breeding bald eagles outside of the Adirondacks. Various vertebrate censuses and information gathered by the Natural Heritage Trust report the Hemlock-Canadice watershed as habitat of the hermit thrush, loon, black rat snake, central painted turtle, grey and red fox, pileated woodpecker, wintering bluebird, coyote, whitefish, Braun's quillwort, timber rattlesnake, native brook trout, osprey, white basswood, daisyleaf grapefern, tulip, tupelo and cucumber tree, and Northern hounds tongue. A former Upland Watershed manager reported the presence of an American chestnut ten inches in diameter, bearing chestnuts and showing no signs of the blight. Ecologists suspect that other rare species and valuable habitats may be tucked away in remote corners of the watershed. Eagles as an Indicator or Sentinel Species Bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) are "specialized organisms that have narrow tolerances for most environmental properties...and have evolved to be specially adapted for the pristine, but somewhat austere conditions originally found in naturally occurring systems...of the Upper Great Lakes". Bald eagles were widely affected by the introduction of DDT. Concern about declining bald eagle populations was probably responsible, more than any other single species, for the ban of DDT and passage of the Endangered Species Act. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the bald eagle population of the United States has recovered from a 1964 low of 400 pairs to 2,700 pairs in 1989. Though their numbers have improved, the recovery has been slow and problems are still apparent. Clean up of persistent toxic substances will not solve the decline in population resulting from habitat loss. The persistence of breeding eagles in the Hemlock-Canadice watershed indicates a uniquely high quality environment. Because eagles are both long-lived and slow to reproduce, they are subject to chronic effects of contaminant exposure. As a specialized predator, they are particularly sensitive to contaminants that biomagnify through their food chain. In "problem" ecosystems such as the Great Lakes, clean-up to allow the re-establishment of eagle populations has been a recommended objective. The continuing presence of eagles in the Hemlock-Canadice watershed testifies to the pristine ecosystem's integrity: everything they need is still present, and significant contaminant levels appear to be sufficiently low. Wetlands Wetlands at both ends of Hemlock and Canadice Lakes remind us of the natural state of the other Finger Lakes. On the other lakes, however, the beneficial functions of these wetlands often have been damaged or lost to drainage and development. Canadice and Hemlock Lakes provide high quality water, in part because their undisturbed wetlands continue to filter and bind nutrients, provide storage for floodwaters, and allow sediments to settle. Additionally, many food chains and reproductive processes of wildlife species begin and/or pass through wetlands. The outstanding productivity of wetlands feeds and shelters populations of land and water dwellers. To ensure a high quality ecosystem, the watershed wetlands require as much continued protection as the wooded hillsides or uncluttered shores. Educational and Scientific Values Society's progress in caring for natural resources can be measured against these natural lands and lakes. The watershed is already used as a "living laboratory" by faculty and students from the colleges and universities at Geneseo, Brockport, Syracuse, Ithaca, Buffalo and Canandaigua. The Hemlock-Canadice watershed provides unique opportunities for the study of limnology, hydrology, silviculture, wildlife management, aquatic biology, archaeology, systematics, soil sciences, botany, geology, zoology, outdoor recreation and ichthyology. We will have no other opportunities to study the Finger Lakes in natural conditions. As management practices to restore damaged ecosystems are developed and refined, undamaged ecosystems such as Hemlock-Canadice will provide a performance standard. Archaeological and Historical Values The watershed land is valuable for its archaeological and historical connections. The area immediately north of the lakes along their outlets is particularly rich in archaeological materials, including artifacts of generations of pre-Iroquoian and Iroquoian people who lived in the Richmond Mills area. Though it is less well documented, seasonal fishing villages were probably located on the "points" of land at the shore of the lakes. Increased water levels may have covered and preserved these sites, which have been disturbed and destroyed on the other Finger Lakes. The look of the land before its colonization is documented in the journals kept by soldiers from Sullivan's 1779 march through the area and records kept by early surveyors laying out the town lines. Concern for our heritage warrants protection of this land. MODERN PRESERVATION EFFORTS In July l986, with preservation as a goal, a subcommittee of the Upland Watershed Advisory Committee (chaired by the late Dr. Olga Berg) began to research options for the management of city-owned watershed land. By December l987, the committee proposed that the City offer to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) a conservation easement on its Upland Watershed property, with tax relief for the City and payments-in-lieu-of-taxes from the State to the watershed towns, counties and school districts. The proposal was unanimously accepted by the Upland Watershed Advisory Committee for inclusion in its final report to the Rochester Commissioner of Environmental Services . On December l5, l989, at the urging of the City of Rochester and the Coalition for Hemlock and Canadice Lakes, Governor Cuomo signed a bill to amend the real property tax law to allow payments-in-lieu-of-taxes by the State on watershed lands. This paved the way for the State's acquisition of watershed land, but, at the same time, funds from the 1986 Environmental Quality Bond Act were exhausted. In a letter to the Coalition, DEC Commissioner Thomas Jorling explained that the Hemlock-Canadice acquisition had been approved in principle by the DEC Executive Committee but was delayed (along with other worthy projects) when the funds were expended. He urged the Coalition to support the 21st Century Environmental Quality Bond Act as a means of protecting the Hemlock-Canadice watershed. With the defeat of the Bond Act in November of 1990, most State land acquisition projects were put on hold. Land acquisition advisory committees in the various regions of New York were organized in 1990 and created a plan ratified by State government in 1992 to conserve open space in New York State. The DEC Region 8 committee has given a high priority and strong recommendation to the Hemlock-Canadice project (also known as the Little Lakes). The State's enactment of the Environmental Protection Fund in 1993 creates a dedicated fund intended for the acquisition of priority open spaces, such as the Hemlock-Canadice watershed, listed in the Open Space Plan. LANDS NOT OWNED BY THE CITY Though the City's lands, if properly protected and managed, would provide a core preservation area surrounding the lakes, more than three-quarters of the Hemlock-Canadice watershed land is in the hands of several thousand private property owners. While protection of the City's lands would initiate a protection project, the project's long-term success would depend on the actions of private property owners. At present, many of the private properties of the watershed are large parcels held by families through generations. Several of these large parcels are located between the major blocks of city-owned lands surrounding the lakes and/or are close to the lakes and would be crucial to a watershed protection project. However, development pressure in the Hemlock-Canadice watershed has been intense for several decades and is leading to increasing fragmentation of land ownership patterns. Involvement of private property owners in a watershed protection project is needed. An outreach program of information and education should be mounted by concerned private, not-for-profit conservation organizations. To implement such a program, a partnership between a locally focused organization, such as the Finger Lakes Land Trust, and an organization with an international reputation and experience, such as The Nature Conservancy, would be ideal. Some private property owners may be willing to join a voluntary land stewardship registry or even to donate a conservation easement for the protection of their land. Their example will inspire others to follow. Other property owners, for a variety of reasons, may be more interested in the sale of conservation easements, which would necessitate fund-raising for the project by the sponsor organizations. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS There are numerous reasons to be concerned about the preservation of the Hemlock-Canadice watershed in its present natural form. The City of Rochester will continue to need large quantities of high quality drinking water, and the values of the lands and lakes themselves are worthy of preservation. The protection of these valuable resources can be planned and executed in such a way that the City enjoys continued access to good water and the citizens of New York State are satisfied that the watershed's wildlife, woodlands, geological rarities, remarkable views, and aesthetic opportunities are protected. Portions of a preservation project would be possible without major funding, but a comprehensive program will require a major commitment by the State of New York either through a dedicated fund or a bond act and a well-funded education and acquisition program for private property owners mounted by not-for-profit conservation groups.
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