Location: Town of Ontario, Wayne County
Size: 187 acres
Description: These adjacent conservation easements consist of wildlife ponds, wetlands, mature woodlands, and a mix of deciduous and evergreen plantations. Critical migratory bird habitat is located here, near the shores of Lake Ontario. There are open fields and more than 1,000 feet of Deer Creek runs through and around this property.
History: In 1994, Janet Buchanan Smith turned to Genesee Land Trust for help in protecting 87 acres of her property in Wayne County. Amy’s Ponds, named for her daughter who shares her love for this land, includes a mature woods as well as a series of ponds and wetlands feeding into Deer Creek—a prime haven for marsh birds and an oasis on the avian migratory route across Lake Ontario.
In 2001, Janet Smith more than doubled her original gift of Amy’s Ponds Conservation Easement by donating to Genesee Land Trust a second easement, Hundred Acre Wood, which protects an additional 100 acres adjacent to Amy’s Ponds. Janet and her husband, Robert, are eager to enhance the natural diversity of this beautiful property by maintaining the open fields as grassland habitat.
Photos by Elinor Osborn and Genesee Land Trust staff