Lost and Found: Ducking into the past

By Jenna Belmonte

Today, Webster Pond is a vision of pastoral perfection, lush, idyllic and full of wildlife, but this has not always been the case.

Located at 2004 Valley Drive in Syracuse, the pond sits on land settled by Ephraim Webster. He was a veteran of the Revolutionary War and the first white man to traverse the wilds of Onondaga County in 1786. The pond was lost to time and the interference of poachers who depleted its fish and waterfowl for decades following Webster’s death.

Concerned citizens first saved the pond from becoming a landfill. They later persuaded developers to drop a plan to build community housing there.

In 1960, the Anglers Association of Onondaga purchased a long-term lease from the city and transformed the pond into a sylvan oasis.

Bill and Chad Norton, the president and vice president of the Anglers Association, have been instrumental in the pond’s metamorphosis. The father and son team, along with the organization they oversee, work tirelessly to clean the pond and protect its wildlife.

There are over 47 bird and waterfowl species inhabiting the pond, five species of fish, and a variety of freshwater turtles. Deer and woodchuck also visit the pond.

Visitors are invited to fish, picnic and feed corn to waterfowl, which ensures them proper nutrition.

“There’s no where else in the city that I know of where people can come and feed wildlife out of their hand and enjoy the beauty of the green trees and the landscape. It’s a perfect combination of everything, that’s why we figured we’d call it Nature’s best kept secret,” said Chad Norton about Webster Pond.