Stephen F. Caldwell is on his daily trek on Burns Road in the town of Theresa when the two bike riders come upon him.

Mr. Caldwell, accompanied by his brown Labrador, Sadie, leans back in his electric wheelchair and glances up to the tips of the trees lining the road. "It's a scarlet tanager," he tells his visitors.

The bird's red feathers are easy to pick out against the deep green forest. The three of us chat in the middle of the quiet road.

"There's all sorts of habitat along this road," Mr. Caldwell said. "It's really great for birding."

The president of the Indian River Lakes Conservancy, Edward Robertson, and a Guy on a Bike are on Burns Road on the way to the conservancy's 1,000-acre Grand Lake Reserve. In the past year, the reserve has seen volunteers creating trails and two parking areas in the conservancy's efforts to create an outdoor classroom and a stunning year-round hiking area.

The 15 Indian River Lakes, most in the town of Theresa, are off the beaten path. Many are accessed by gravel roads, and Mr. Robertson seems almost reluctant to talk about them for fear of bringing more attention to the area.

"That's why it's so nice back here," Mr. Robertson said earlier, before starting out on his one-speed Schwinn at his summer residence on Butterfield Lake off Cottage Hill Road. "This place has been kind of considered blackflies, back woodsy, who wants to be back here?"

The goal of the conservancy, created in 1998, is to preserve the natural character of the area, with a focus on protecting the water, wildlife and scenic vistas along the shores of the lakes. The conservancy has about 1,100 acres.

"The main goal of the conservancy is water quality," said Mr. Robertson, a seasonal resident who winters in Florida with his wife. "The quality has deteriorated over the past 25 years."

People like Mr. Caldwell have made the conservancy possible. He donated 86 acres several years ago. Other donations included the gift of 900 acres linking Butterfield and Grass lakes, made four years ago by Henry Carse, a Vermont resident who spends time on Butterfield Lake.

The area along Burns Road passes abandoned farms, their crumbling stone fences and stone foundations the only evidence remaining. Mr. Caldwell, who is partially paralyzed and lives off Cottage Hill Road, makes the trek along the road daily in April, May and June.

"Then the birds go quiet in the middle of August," he said.

We leave Mr. Caldwell to his birding and in about a mile reach the Grand Lake Reserve. Mr. Robertson explains that the name of the reserve comes from the original name of Butterfield Lake. In the mid-1800s, Grand Lake's name was changed by businessman W.W. Butterfield, who owned Redwood Glass Factory. He said the factory shut down when the surrounding forests were cleared for fuel.

The bikes are parked in the woods and we and hike the Grass Lake Overlook Trail. Markers for the trails and parking lots were to be installed in a few days. There are four trails on the reserve, two of them a half-mile long. The other two are 11/2 miles long. Conservancy volunteers plan to create another trail this summer.

The trail we're on dips and rises slightly, but off it there are steep, rocky gullies. If you leave the trail and know where you're going, you can view the ruins of an abandoned sugar bush operation with crumbling walls of flat boulders and a rusting, wood-burning stove.

We come upon a large, cracked-open turkey egg in the middle of the trail, as if it had been strategically placed there by some critter for human inspection.

"That's the great thing about being here," Mr. Robertson said. "I've never been out here and never not seen something new."

The conservancy is reaching out to school districts to use the reserve as an outdoor classroom. "You can relate every course in school to nature," Mr. Robertson said. "This is the perfect place to do that. I hope they embrace it. I think they will."

We reach the end of the trail, which features a steep drop-off. But the sight of the southwestern arm of Grass Lake in the distance may be enough to stop you in your tracks.

Mr. Robertson points out a streak above the lake followed by a splash as an osprey dives for a fish. It comes back up in a few seconds. We can't tell if the dive was successful.

Other birds common in the area are bald eagles, green and blue herons, kingfishers and loons, Mr. Robertson said.

We fetch our bikes, head back down Burns and Cottage Hill roads and back to Butterfield Lake, where Mr. Robertson provides a tour of the east shore. We pass Fox Cove and from then on, about 11/2 miles, everything beyond the cottages on the rocky edges is the Grand Lake Reserve. There will be no more cottages or other development built on the land.

"It's preserved for perpetuity," he said.

Back at the dock, from which bass can be seen lazily swimming in the clear water, Mr. Robertson stresses the importance of the land donations to the area's water quality.

"What the group is all about is to preserve and at least hold the water quality steady, if not improve it. Development brings degradation to the water quality. We're trying to learn how to live in our habitat in a way to make it cleaner and more natural."

A Guy on a Bike is an occasional column in which the rider searches the back roads to introduce you to people and places you might easily miss. If you have a suggested ride, contact cbrock@wdt.net, or write to Chris Brock at the Watertown Daily Times, 260 Washington St., Watertown, N.Y. 13601