Let's go outside!

As March unfolds here in the Finger Lakes we hope you will join us as we focus on FLM&A's Townsend-Grady Wildlife Preserve over the next few weeks. We will share our observations as the wetlands awaken in the spring time, along with plans for upcoming programs and events. Let's begin with a little background on this valuable natural resource.

The site of The Finger Lakes Museum & Aquarium doubled in size thanks to a generous gift from long-time Museum & Aquarium supporters and neighbors. Museum Board member Rolf Zerges and his wife, Lynda Rummel have supported the Organization since its inception in the Summer of 2008. Anne and Kent Salisbury became Founders of the Museum & Aquarium in 2009. Both couples, along with Anne’s sister, Molly Sujan, donated 16 acres of pristine wetland located at the north end of the west branch of Keuka Lake to the Organization. The wetland, titled The Townsend-Grady Wildlife Preserve, was named in honor of Anne and Molly’s father and grandmother.

The Preserve is connected to the Museum & Aquarium campus by Sugar Creek, a navigable tributary of Keuka Lake. Teeming with wildlife, the visitor experience at the Preserve is currently being evaluated by our architects and exhibit designers. A variety of bird and waterfowl species as well as mammals like beavers, foxes, and mink already inhabit the wetland and bald eagles and ospreys perch there on occasion. It is also home to the somewhat rare and prehistoric-looking soft-shelled turtle. The plan is to build a system of elevated boardwalks and interpretative areas throughout the Townsend-Grady Wildlife Preserve to provide visitors with opportunities to immerse themselves into a world that is not normally accessible to the everyday visitor.