CAZENOVIA — On Wednesday, July 31, representatives of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the Town of Nelson joined community partners at the Nelson Town Hall Park Pavilion to announce the completion of the Chittenango Creek Boardwalk, an accessible trail project through the Nelson Swamp Unique Area.
The DEC’s 979-acre Nelson Swamp Unique Area is home to more than 400 cataloged plant species, including several species of orchids, and over 100 species of breeding birds.
The trail and boardwalk traverses low-lying wet meadows, deciduous woods, dark groves of cedar and pine, and Chittenango Creek as it meanders north to Lake Ontario.
Extending from behind the Nelson Town Hall at 4085 Nelson Rd. to the sidewalk on Route 20, the 0.5-mile walkway is now part of a 1.3-mile loop trail.
Pedestrians can start at the town office building, walk through the swamp to Route 20, and then take the sidewalk back downtown to the Nelson Hamlet businesses.
“I am pleased that a new accessible trail and boardwalk in the Nelson Swamp Unique Area has been completed,” NYS Senator Joseph Griffo said in a July 31 DEC press release. “This project will enhance access to existing outdoor spaces and recreational opportunities in Madison County while also improving connectivity and expanding access to local businesses, natural resources, parklands, and other attractions in the region.”
The DEC press release emphasizes the department’s commitment to offering recreational opportunities for people of all ages and abilities.
“Recently, more than $5 million in state accessibility projects were completed to expand recreational opportunities for all New Yorkers to enjoy,” the press release states. “DEC’s newly launched Accessible Recreation Destinations Map displays 266 destinations across New York State with wheelchair-accessible outdoor recreation opportunities.”
During the July 31 dedication ceremony, DEC Region 7 Director Dereth Glance commended all the people involved in the Chittenango Creek Boardwalk project for creating an outdoor recreational opportunity suitable for everyone, including toddlers, babies in strollers, runners, seniors with walkers, and wheelchair users.
“You can get offline and spend some time outside together, connecting,” Glance said. “The boardwalk is also such an amazing way to [experience] nature and not disturb it at the same time. . . . You can see [it], take pictures, [soak in] the sights and sounds, and not disturb it. It’s really just the best of both worlds. [Not] only is it for recreation but also for connectivity and to get you into the main drag of Nelson. . . . This wouldn’t have happened without strong partnerships.”
Project history and partnerships
Before the official trail ribbon cutting, Nelson Town Councilor Jennifer Marti provided an overview of how the project came about and was brought to fruition.
Marti explained that in the summer of 2016, the DEC informed the Nelson Town Board that it was launching an initiative to increase public access to state land.
In response, John Dunkle — the town planning board chairman at the time — pulled together a group of community members to form the Nelson Swamp Trail Committee. Its mission was to determine the optimal location for a walking trail through the swamp.
By mid-July, the group had begun exploring areas on the south side of Route 20.
“We had a couple of adventures on that side,” Marti said. “One location was better than the other, but we weren’t quite convinced, and as the summer progressed, we had a hard time getting back together.”
According to Marti, the group eventually reconvened in September. Before that meeting, she suggested that the committee turn its attention to the land behind the town hall.
“I had told the group about my history of walking in this part of the swamp when I lived in a house [in the hamlet],” she said. “Back then, snowmobiling was what everyone did, and the trail was accessible all year round because the local snowmobiling club had built two bridges so we could get over the creek easily. Even in the summer, that trail stayed walkable. I told the group of my experience, and we all collectively [thought], ‘We need to go look at that portion of the swamp as well.’ [We] managed to get across the creek, and then we essentially followed the creek to Route 20. It was obvious that this was going to be the right spot for us.”
At that point, the Nelson Swamp Trail Committee handed off the project to the town board and DEC to work out the logistics.
In 2018, the NYS Department of Transportation determined that the hamlet needed sidewalks and traffic calming measures.
“They initially planned on ending the sidewalk at the last house on the west side of the north side of [Route] 20,” said Marti. “[We] asked if they would consider extending the sidewalk to the proposed site of the trailhead, [and] they graciously agreed.”
Per its agreement with the DEC, the town initiated a project to construct a boardwalk to gain access to the DEC land.
With help from Lauren Lines, executive director of the Cazenovia Area Community Development Association, the town secured two grants — one from the Fields Pond Foundation and the other from the Central New York Community Foundation — by the end of 2019.
By the summer of 2021, the town’s boardwalk was complete.
The DEC then worked with the Town of Nelson, the Nelson Swamp Trail Committee, and the Nelson Streetscape Committee to design its section of trail and boardwalk.
“During that whole time period, we also worked with SUNY ESF professors and students, who used our project as a platform for their own projects, which gave the students real-world experience planning and presenting their recommendations,” said Marti.
Construction began in 2023, and the full 0.5-mile Chittenango Creek Boardwalk was completed in February 2024.
According to the DEC’s July 31 press release, the state’s portion of the boardwalk project cost $760,600 and was funded through NYS’s Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), which supports climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts, improves agricultural resources to promote sustainable agriculture, protects water sources, advances conservation efforts, and provides recreational opportunities for New Yorkers. The EPF also supports the state’s 30×30 initiative, which commits to conserving 30 percent of lands and waters by 2030.
“Eight years is a long time to wait for something, but the words ‘If you build it, they will come’ have never [rung truer],” said Marti. “I literally am awestruck by the countless conversations I have had with countless people of all different stripes who have intentionally sought out our trail or just happened upon it [on] their drive. Public access to the DEC land has indeed been increased exponentially in Nelson. The members of this community are grateful for the opportunities within our hamlet that our partnership with New York State, and the DEC in particular, has provided.”
The Town of Nelson recently completed a land transfer to the DEC that expanded the Nelson Swamp Unique Area by 7.5 acres. The donation included the 0.2-mile section of trail and boardwalk that the town completed in 2021.
“The town’s tax-exempt land that the trail was constructed on was donated to the state to help with the cost of maintaining the town’s portion of the trail,” said Nelson Town Supervisor Jim Cunningham. “The board approved [this] a few years ago; however, the legal process was just completed a few months ago.”
Following the July 31 trail dedication, Cunningham thanked the DEC and the town’s other partners for their tireless efforts and positive impact on the boardwalk project and the community.
“There is just no easy button for trail construction through a protected wetland,” he said. “This unique trail is not just a collection of paths and markers, but a testament to the beauty and diversity of the Town of Nelson. Thank you to Town Councilor Jennifer Marti for your vision and persistence [through] a pandemic, winters that would not freeze the surface, finding funding, and years of planning. . . . Thanks go out to our entire town board, past and present. Special thanks to John Dunkle for volunteering your engineering skills.”
Mad Cow 5K
On Saturday, Aug. 3, the Nelson Swamp Boardwalk Trail was incorporated into the 15th annual Mad Cow 5K race.
Runners started in the hamlet of Nelson, proceeded up Nelson Road, and then looped down Putnam Road to Route 20, where they had two path options. To reach the finish line at the Nelson Town Hall, participants took either the traditional Route 20/Nelson Road route or ran the final stretch on the boardwalk trail through the swamp.
To learn more about Nelson Swamp Unique Area, visit dec.ny.gov/places/nelson-swamp-unique-area.
For more information on the Town of Nelson, visit townofnelson-ny.com.
