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Land Trust Acquires Mendel’s Pond
By Laurie Wallace

Mendel’s Pond, a local landmark in Patterson and an important waterfowl habitat, is part of a 44 acre acquisition acquired from Shelia and Bill Hamilton by the Putnam County Land Trust, FrOGS and the Nature Conservancy. Coordinated by Hunter Pollock of PCLT and Laura Welles of TNC, preservation of this important wildlife area was accomplished with funds from the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NACWA) grant program.

PCLT joined with FrOGS, the Nature Conservancy, and eleven other partners, including the Town of Patterson, and applied for a North American Wetlands Conservation Act Grant that targeted the preservation of 925 acres of wetlands with some adjacent uplands in the “Heart of the Great Swamp”. Most of the 925 acres are located in the widest portion of the Swamp, stretching roughly from the Patterson Environmental Park south to Rte 22. The Mendel Pond area was included as part of the proposal because it is part of the Muddy Brook section of the Swamp and there was an existing upland connection to the Swamp over the ridge of Cornwall Hill which includes the already preserved parcels at the Sterling Farm Preserve and lands donated to PCLT by Mildred Luschinsky.

The acquisition of the Pond completes a key 100-acre upland forest corridor that bridges Cornwall Hill. This “bridge” area is important to larger wildlife like bobcat and otter that move from one area to another within their territory. In addition many wetland species need bordering upland areas to compliment their breeding areas or to find food. Some “upland” species like the rare blue-spotted salamander live in the forest, but move to the wetlands in the spring to breed. Others, like the wood duck nest in hollow trees in the Swamp but feast on acorns from the oaks in the bordering uplands.

A sanctuary for migratory waterfowl.

Spring migration brings Ring-necked Ducks, Black Ducks and Green-winged Teal. During migration they rest and feed on the pond then move onto their breeding grounds in Canada and the Artic. In the Fall they are often seen on the return journey. The declining populations of Black Ducks is of growing concern, so stopover points on their migration routes are important.

The most unusual site in the spring is the amazing view of “shorebirds” hoping from lilly pad to lilly pad on the pond in search of insects for their continuing journey. Both the Solitary and Spotted Sandpipers can be observed feeding this way. These birds have traveled from Central and South America to reach here and the Solitary Sandpiper has a long way to go before reaching their Arctic summer breeding grounds.

In 2000, FrOGS, with the PCLT, the Nature Conservancy and other partners, including the State of New York, Putnam County and the Town of Patterson joined to apply for the grant from NACWA. Protecting wetlands, open water areas and their adjacent uplands are important “stop-over” points for these migrants and is a major objective of the NACWA Grant Program.

The Federal Program awarded the Partners a total of $940,000 to acquire lands through purchase or conservation easement. The partners had to pledge more than twice that amount in order to obtain the grant. PCLT contributed funds that were donated to the Land Trust from the Appleby Foundation that were given for acquisition of lands in the Great Swamp. Since the receipt of the Award in late 2001, the Partners have acquired or received conservation easements on three other parcels of land within the Swamp.
Beyond the birds, PCLT members have just begun to observe and census the wildlife found in this new preserve. Tom Morgan earlier noted that there was much more checking and searching among the ferns alone to identify them all. “There is so much here” exclaimed Dod Charoudi when he first saw the new property a few months ago.

“Our family has received so much pleasure from this property”, said Bill Hamilton. “We were glad we could help the three organizations achieve their goal to preserve it for future generations.”

“We gave Turtle Pond back to the land where it belongs, we were only borrowing it” says Shelia Hamilton. With the transfer to the Land Trust, the name of the Pond will be changed back to its original name, Turtle Pond.