Town committee recognized for Dann Lake Park efforts

Peter Warn attended the New York State Association of Conservation Commissions awards ceremony on Oct. 20 in Albany on behalf of the Amherst Conservation Advisory Council and the Dann Lake subcommittee. The committee was recognized for its efforts in creating Dann Lake Park.

The Amherst Conservation Advisory Council and its Dann Lake subcommittee were honored on Oct. 20 in Albany for their 12-year effort that has resulted in Dann Lake becoming an Amherst Town Park.

This Environmental Project Award was presented by the New York State Association of Conservation Commissions, an organization that knits together conservation councils across the state.

The ACAC was set up in 1970 under a state law to establish local bodies that advise government on conservation matters. The Dann Lake subcommittee, including Sally and Ernie Metzger, Anthony Chungbin, Roger LeGoff, Tim Bathory, Mike Goodman and Peter Warn, and chaired by David Copeland, worked first to arrange for the donation of this property to the town, then to improve it with the planting of trees and trails, and finally by writing its master plan.

The 172-acre park is located off Millersport Highway near the Lou Gehrig Baseball Center. It was made possible by Dockside Village's donation of land to Amherst in 2003.

In August 2007, the Town Board approved the master plan for the park which dedicates it to environmental education and passive recreation such as fishing, hiking and canoeing. With minimal human intervention, it is to be managed for ecological diversity and as an open floodway.

The Dann Lake Committee, with the help of the Boy Scouts of Dodge School, the Niagara Frontier section of the Air and Waste Management Associations and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has installed bird, bat and duck houses and planted approximately 300 trees a year since the land was donated.