SYRACUSE – The Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation has purchased 44-1/2 acres of property along the southeast corner of Syracuse Lake.

It is adjacent to the CSX railroad tracks, East Shore Drive and Cornelius Road and includes the Bonar Lake and Syracuse Lake wetlands and approximately 950 feet of shoreline, according to a press release from WACF.

“The property is the confluence of Syracuse, Wawasee, Bonar and Mud lakes and its preservation and protection is vitally important to our mission. This property, along with other WACF acquisitions, extends the protected Syracuse Lake Wetlands from the lake east to Warner Road,” said Sam Leman, chairman of the WACF board of directors.

The WACF mission is to preserve and protect the Wawasee Area Watershed for present and future generations. The watershed ecosystem includes Syracuse, Wawasee, Bonar and Papakeechie lakes, as well as 10 lakes in the Turkey Creek sub-watershed. The wetlands and adjoining properties that are crucial to the WACF mission were originally mapped and identified by the Commonwealth Engineering Study of 1995, the release states.

“This property has long been of interest to us and its acquisition brings the total WACF watershed protected property to nearly 820 acres and over 12 miles of shoreline,” said Tom Yoder, WACF board member and chairman of the land acquisition committee.