Genesee County Park

Press release:

A collaborative effort between Genesee Community College and the Genesee County Park and Forest is giving photography students a first of its kind opportunity. Their work will be displayed in an exhibit at the Park’s Interpretive Center, marking the first time a student exhibit has been shown in the newly expanded exhibit space.

An opening reception is set for Friday, May 10, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Genesee County Park and Forest Interpretive Center, 11095 Bethany Center Road, East Bethany. The public is invited. Refreshments will be provided.

For their final project, GCC Photography instructor Joe Ziolkowski had his COM 103 (Introduction to Black and White Photography) students explore the landscape of Genesee County and surrounding areas in Western New York. The black and white photographic prints the students created offer their interpretation of how we are preserving and how we are hurting the landscape that surrounds us.

“I think visitors will be as impressed as I am with the work these students created,” said Joe Z. “Sometimes we don’t realize how the things we do every day impact the landscape. We hope these photos give visitors a lot to think and talk about.”

The exhibit, entitled “Around the Bend: The Shared Landscape,” will be on view through Saturday, Aug. 31.

Photo: By Robert Garland, "Trestle, Avon, NY."

Thankfully a few inches of snow had fallen the previous evening. It was Saturday afternoon and just enough snow to get the gist of snowshoeing. That's park volunteer Charlie Augrom out front, our trail leader for the day.

Before donning snowshoes and hitting the trails, our group was given a brief and informative talk on the history and how-to of snowshoeing by Charlie and Judy Spring. That's Judy pictured above with an older-style Michigan snowshoe.

Here Judy displays a modified version of the Michigan snowshoe. Both styles were forerunners of todays lightweight models.

A modern snowshoe, lightweight and user-friendly.

Just prior to heading out, Charlie assembles the group.

A bit tentative at first, the group is off to a good start.

With each step confidence is gained. A broad smile is an early indicator of a good time.

A trail through the hardwoods.

George Squires, in the background, is a park volunteer and district manager for Genesee County Soil and Water Conservation District. Here he gives an on-the-spot talk regarding the park's spruce forest. 

While the rest of the group continues on through towering Norway spruce, George makes sure all trekkers are accounted for. 

This pair certainly seem to be enjoying themselves.

The trail leads between snow-covered spruce boughs.

Evergreens on the left, hardwoods on the right -- we're in the home stretch...

The 90-minute hike proved to be exhilarating, invigorating and informative. In addition to the above mentioned people, I'd like to express our thanks to park volunteers Mary Jane Pearce and Peggy Grayson who accompanied our group.

Snowshoes can be rented at the Genesee County Park Interpretive Center and they can be reached 585-344-1122.

Being it was the second week of December and no snow on the ground, I suggested to Claudia we should load up the dogs and head to the county park. And because we had Tate and Ernie along, we decided to stay off the side trails and stick to the main road.

This is one of many interconnecting trails found in the park. Despite staying on the "beaten path," there was no shortage of wildlife.

Not far from the interpretive center where we parked, this piebald doe hightailed it across the road...moments later she was followed by the fork horn pictured below.

Notice how, unlike the doe, his tail is tucked? But not all bucks think alike.....

This buck was right behind the forkhorn. Obviously older and wiser, his tail isn't tucked, but neither is it in full alarm mode. He seems somewhat tentative about our presence and he probably has other things on his mind...the action seen here suggests the second rut may be kicking into high gear.

Beech trees are prolific in this section of the park. Some of the younger beech have yet to shed their leaves.

Young spruce surviving among the hardwoods.

The headwaters of Black Creek flow through Genesee County Park. The creek will continue its northward flow through Bethany, Stafford and into Byron where it will make an eastward turn and continue into Bergen before entering Monroe County where it will eventually flow into the Genesee River.

Just downstream from the stone bridge we saw sign of beaver activity along the creek.

This morning, bright and early, I arrived at Genesee County Park, in Bethany, for a walk in the woods, with my camera of course.

If you've never been to the park, I highly recommend it. It's another one of Genesee County's gems.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story is part of a series prepared on behalf of the tourism agency of the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce. The new tourism guide was recently published and is available at the chamber's office and will soon be available at other tourism locations. The official tourism site for Genesee County is VisitGeneseeNY.com.

Some people leave their mark on the land by building highways and shopping centers.

Paul Osborn is leaving his mark by making Genesee County's parks more accessible and inviting to visitors.

Osborn started his parks career 12 years ago after getting a degree in landscape architecture, but he thinks he made the right choice when he decided to apply to the county for a parks job.

"It was an opportunity to be part of creating something that will be there forever," Osborn said. "It my chance to create a legacy, to leave my stamp on things."

When Osborn took over as parks supervisor, the Genesee County Park in Bethany was in pretty bad shape, he said, and Dewitt Recreational Area was less than two years old and needed a lot of improvements.

"It was an opportunity to show what I could do for the community," said Osborn, a native of Oakfield who still lives in Genesee County with his wife of 12 years, Melinda, and their two children.

The vast Genesee County Park, covering 430 acres, was beset by disrepair when Osborn started. The bridges were getting old, the pavilions needed fixing, the playgrounds weren't up to standards and the facilities management structure was just a hut with a dirt floor.

Slowly, Osborn was able to rehabilitate the park infrastructure, and improve access for people with disabilities.

Today, the park is one of the gems to attract people to Genesee County.

With more than 150,000 trees, which were planted between 1885 and 1935, the park was the first county forest established in New York’s history.

Its four acres of wetlands provide habitat for waterfowl. There are also five ponds, a few of which are good fishing spots.

Visitors can enjoy five picnic areas and four playgrounds. There are pavilions equipped with grills and restrooms at each area. Hikers, walkers, runners and long-distance skiers can enjoy more than 10 miles of marked and mapped trails.

There's also a baseball and football field, horseshoe pits, volleyball courts, and a sledding hill.

Dewitt Recreational Area, on Cedar Street in Batavia, is where Osborn has been able to exercise some of his creative energy.

While there was a master plan in place for Dewitt when he took over, it doesn't specify every detail of development. This allowed Osborne to choose the design of pavilions, select picnic tables and playground equipment and decide the best placement for them all.

And the park is still a work in progress.

Currently, it offers a state-of-the-art playground in easy view of either of its pavilions, plus a quarter-mile track, all on the edge of a large pond. The water is stocked each spring with brown trout, providing a lure to young anglers right in the city.

Since Osborn took over the parks, the Nature Center at Genesee County Park has also undergone its own kind of upgrades (the center is off Bethany Center Road, the last left before crossing the county line).

With the help of Judy Spring, environmental education specialist, programs have been added, displays made more interactive and marketing has been improved so local residents can stay apprised of what's going on at the center.

The 3,000-square-foot center was built in 1998. It offers a laboratory, a classroom, several display areas and a conference room. From the back porch, visitors are often able to view wildlife hanging out in their natural setting. The center is open year-round Thursday through Sunday, with hours varying according to the season. 

"The nice thing about our parks is that there’s something for everyone when they come,” Osborn said.

While Osborn is no naturalist -- he considers himself a facilitator for the parks, and finds the right experts to help with forestry and wetlands management -- he does think the parks play an important role in a healthy community.

He frets about childhood obesity and that too many children today do not get enough opportunities to play in the dirt.

"Last year we had a small girl from Batavia who had never been outside in the woods," Osborn said. "She needed a leader to hold her hand because she had never been in the woods before.

"Here we are living in a rural community and there is a little girl who has never been in the woods. That's just shameful for society. We need the chance for natural experiences."

Photos by Howard Owens

One of the things I've wanted to find time to do all fall is take Pachuco for a walk in Genesee County Park. Today, we took a short walk and, of course, I brought my camera. Above was taken by a pond on the north side of the park.

Rachel Ingutti, a member of the educational staff at the Seneca Zoo brought a collection of snakes, lizards, salamanders and a tortoise to the Interpretive Nature Center at the Genesee County Park in Bethany today.

The turtle below is a new addition to the Interpretive Nature Center, giving visitors a live animal to view (rather than just the interesting collection of stuffed species on display at the center).

Dozens of volunteers came out to the Genesee County Park this morning to walk the trails and pick up trash and debris as part of the park's annual spring clean up.

Today, Pachuco went for a walk in Genesee County Park -- great place to walk with a dog and a camera.