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Otisco, N.Y. – Onondaga County this month acquired a 35-acre waterfront property along Otisco Lake that has become the newest county park. Otisco Lake Park offers shoreline access, walking trails and a small parking area, County Executive Ryan McMahon announced today.
The park is at 1486 Otisco Valley Road, at the southeastern end of the lake. The county will make minimal changes to maintain the land as a natural setting, McMahon said.
The county acquired the land from the Finger Lakes Land Trust, a nonprofit land conservation group based in Ithaca. No money changed hands, but the county granted a permanent conservation easem*nt to the land trust ensuring that the property remains undeveloped, according to real estate records.
Finger Lakes Land Trust purchased the property two years ago from a private estate for $450,000. The purchase was funded with help from a $407,500 grant from the state Department of Environmental Conservation under a program to improve water quality. The land trust planned at the time to turn the property over to the county.
In addition to providing public access for fishing and hiking, preserving the land will help maintain water quality in the lake, a source of public drinking water, McMahon said.
Otisco Lake, which is 5.4 miles long, is the easternmost Finger Lake.
Onondaga County Water Authority (OCWA) uses Otisco Lake together with Lake Ontario and Skaneateles Lake to provide drinking water throughout the county. More than 46 percent of OCWA’s drinking water comes from Otisco. The customers receiving water from Otisco are mostly located in the southern and western half of the county.
Finger Lakes Land Trust owns a 36-acre nature preserve on the west shore of the lake, across from the land acquired by the county.
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