Archive: Around Town

When Lansing took over the management of Salt Point in 2006 the DEC (New York Department of Environmental Conservation) approved a plan that would turn the property into a nature center.  Last week Park Superintendent Steve Colt reported that 15 new trees and two acres of wildflowers will be planted this Spring.  Plans are also being laid to close the point to automobiles.  Additionally a platform will be installed that town officials hope will attract a bald eagle or an osprey to build a nest on.

"If we get it up there and the timing's right I don't see any reason why we won't be successful in attracting an eagle or an osprey," Colt says.  "I think we'll get an eagle.  A lot of people have seen eagles there.  I saw one the night of the watchfire.  That was appropriate because that is a patriotic event.  When I got there some of the vets were looking at Salt Point and said, 'There's a bald eagle over there.'  Sure enough it was making passes around the end of the point.  So they're aware of that place."


"We're really excited that we've allocated some money to start planting there and diversify the habitat," says Councilwoman Katrina Binkewicz, who is instrumental in the plantings.  "We've cut down some brush and are going to put in some native trees.

This round of planting will include some green ash, swamp white oaks, willows, and a tulip tree.  The trees will be planted primarily in the center area and along the north part of the point to provide more shade for visitors to the park.  Binkewicz says green ash is dying off in this area, but bugs and seeds will provide food for animals.  She says the trees may be resistant to the disease for a while isolated on the point, all of which makes them a good temporary choice.

The Town continues to struggle with crime on Salt Point (aka UC Point).  Recreation Supervisor Pat Tyrrell recently removed tires, a mattress and even a couch that had been dumped there.  Reports of parties with loud music blasting from car stereos have continued to plague the Town.  Colt got the Town Board's approval last week to close and lock the gate to the park in the off-season, and he hopes to be able to do it during the warmer months as well.

The Town always intended Salt Point to be a walking/hiking natural area for quieter pursuits than the more activity-friendly Myers Park.  While most of the hole-pocked dirt roads are now gone, a perimeter road surrounds the property, leading to a non-motorized boat launch area past a small inlet that was used for Erie Canal boats when they picked up salt to be distributed, to a waterfront area across from Myers Point.


Lansing installed a gate at the entrance to the point when it took over management of Salt Point.  Colt says the reasons the gate has never been closed are that Salt Point provides the only automobile access to a few private cabins to the immediate north of the park, and to allow access to the boat launch and handicapped access.  But the Town is working on a plan for a new road that will provide access to the cabins, removing the most difficult impediment to closing the park to auto traffic.

"There's probably no reason why we shouldn't lock that gate more frequently, especially now that hunting season is done in that area," Colt says.  "The other important piece is the connecting road the town is working on now.  Once that is completed is no need for any motorized vehicles to go onto Salt Point."

Colt says that the only remaining challenge would be to make the point ADA accessible.  That may require making a portion of the point auto-accessible for people who need assistance to get to the natural areas or boat launch.  he estimates that would include 1/5th of the area or less.

We could use that gate and take it to the next level with plantings and make it the natural area we hoped to make it.  You'll be welcome there, but you're going to have to walk.  It's totally flat and I don't think that's asking too much, especially if we're going with that initiative to make it a natural location.

Eagles have been spotted around Salmon Creek and the Cayuga Inlet, making it possible that Salt Point could become home to the United States' official bird.  He and Binkewicz have chosen a spot near the center of the park they think will attract one to build a nest there.

"There is a centrally located power pole that has no power going to it any more," Colt says.  "Years ago we did a bat project with Cornell.  There are several bat boxes there including one on this pole.  Our goal is to put an osprey nest pad on top of the pole."

Colt says they have obtained plans for the pad from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology.  It will be a sizable platform with a mesh floor that will be mounted on the top of the pole.

"You put up kind of a base," Binkewicz says.  "Eagles and osprey have large platform nests.  Typically in nature there would be a wide tree to make a good base for it.  You put up a base structure to keep it from tipping over."

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