The Ithaca College Natural Lands Committee (ICNL) met last week for our first meeting of the Fall semester. We discussed several important matters related to our preserves that we wish to share with the college community:
o South Hill is experiencing rapid growth of an invasive species known as Japanese Stilt-Grass. This species, native to southeast Asia, is capable of out-competing North American native species where it has been introduced. Action must be taken before the seed has set to successfully eliminate some of the population. ICNL will be organizing a few Stilt-Grass pulls in the upcoming weeks and will need volunteers to help with this effort. Be looking for Intercom announcements about upcoming pulls to help out.
o This week, ICNL will begin advertising for a new Volunteer Stewards Program for the South Hill Natural Area. Volunteer Stewards can be students, faculty, staff, or administration. Each steward will be assigned their own parcel of South Hill land to watch over. Stewards will be asked to walk around their parcel every week and fill out a monthly monitoring report to be used by the committee. ICNL stewards will become an important asset to the college by:
• Representing ICNL to the Ithaca College community
• Being our eyes and ears to notice changes on South Hill lands
• Noting trends over time, and any changes to the land
Look for the other intercom announcement about this under Learning Opportunities and News for Students for more information. We will be having a meeting for all interested on Thursday, September 17th at 7:00 pm in CNS 115. We look forward to seeing you there!
o We also wanted to share with the college good news about the Bob Robinson Family Preserve, a 126 acre preserve located in Newfield donated to Ithaca College in the 1970’s and established as a preserve in 2005. Ithaca College’s Bob Robinson Family Preserve is now protected under a conservation easement with the Finger Lakes Land Trust. Conservation Easements are permanent legal agreements that limit future development, and commercial and industrial uses of the land while allowing it to remain in private ownership. This will allow Ithaca College to keep the preserve as a learning resource for students and faculty and limit future development of the area. Many classes including Ecology, Field Biology, and Natural Resources Ecology have utilized the preserve and its resources for projects and research.
Ithaca College Natural Lands Committee serves as an advisory body to the Vice President for Finance and Administration for the stewardship of Ithaca College’s natural areas. Our primary mission is to maintain the educational value and ecosystem services of these lands, to support co-curricular activities, and to guide compatible economic and recreational development.
Interested in ICNL? Check out our website at www.ithaca.edu/naturallands
