Land trust buys marshland near Bay

ALEXANDRIA BAY — The Thousand Islands Land Trust plans to restore and preserve a large marshland in Crooked Creek this year to try to boost the fish population in the area.

Andrew T. Wood, the land trust's executive director, said the trust purchased the last chunk of the 354-acre marshland in Crooked Creek, a few miles east of Alexandria Bay, in December.

Plans to purchase and restore the marshland started more than a year ago. TILT secured a $262,000 New York Power Authority Fisheries Enhancement, Mitigation and Research Fund grant in November 2009 to purchase and manage the property.

The grant program is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service but the funds come from NYPA, which established the program as part of its Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license for the St. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt Power Project in Massena.

"There's actually been work done by Fish and Wildlife in the past," Mr. Wood said. "Now that we own it, we can do more work and clean it up."

The Thousand Islands Land Trust plans to spend about $20,000 to $40,000 to cover any remaining costs of restoring and managing the site, he said.

Purchasing the entire property took about a year, he said, mainly because portions were owned by more than a dozen people.

The next step for the Thousand Islands Land Trust is to develop a management plan for the property. Mr. Wood said the land trust will meet with representatives from the Fish and Wildlife Service to create a detailed restoration and management plan for the marsh this winter.

There are no definitive plans to open the property to public hunting.

However, the site is open to the public and fishing is allowed, Mr. Wood said.