It is a steamy morning, even under cover of the hardwoods that grow on Canadice's western shore. We came today because it's shady and pretty. It's really a wonderful place to run,'' says Paulsen, who lives a dozen miles away in Bloomfield. If it's there, we will come.'' For many years, advocates have pushed New York state, and the city, to expand the public holdings around the lakes to safeguard their wilderness appeal. While the city's property lines extend a half-mile or more outward from the shoreline in some cases, at other spots the buffer is only 200 feet deep.
City officials say their current holdings are adequate to protect the water supply.
Even if the city wanted more land, it has no money to buy it, Doherty said, and has not considered asking for state or federal grants to make acquisitions. The state's role is another matter altogether. About six months ago, DEC officials from Albany visited the lakes, Doherty said. To date, though, nothing more has happened, and apparently nothing is planned. Doherty said the city discussed several scenarios with the state, including having the state buy privately owned parcels in the watershed, to increase the width of the shoreline buffer zone or to protect land that could be threatened by development.