3,500 native trees to be planted in Skaneateles to protect Syracuse water supply

Native trees planted on a 144-acre preserve above Skaneateles Lake will help keep Syracuse’s drinking water cleaner by holding soil in place before rain can wash it into the watershed.

CNY Land Trust volunteers will plant 3,500 native trees at the O’Neill Family Farm Preserve in Skaneateles on Saturday, April 18, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The land trust says it is the largest tree-planting effort in its history and the kickoff to Earth Week 2026. Volunteers can stay for the full day or help for just a few hours, and pizza will be provided for lunch.

The project matters because the preserve sits directly upstream from the City of Syracuse water supply intake on Skaneateles Lake. CNY Land Trust has said the site had riparian-zone damage in highly erodible areas, creating a water-quality risk. Replanting native trees should help rebuild those streamside buffers, slow stormwater runoff and reduce the amount of sediment that can move downhill into the lake. With roots anchoring the ground and canopies softening the force of rain, the restoration works as a natural layer of infrastructure before water ever reaches a treatment plant.

That kind of prevention has long been part of how Syracuse protects the lake. The City of Syracuse established the Skaneateles Lake Watershed Agricultural Program in 1994 as an alternative to building a costly filtration system required under the 1986 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation describes Skaneateles Lake as a critical drinking water source for about 190,000 Central New Yorkers.

The April 18 planting also builds on work already underway at the preserve. In 2025, more than 80 volunteers planted 1,500 young trees on a hillside above Skaneateles Lake, including red oaks, sugar maples and shagbark hickories. This year’s effort nearly doubles that scale and fits into New York State’s goal of planting 25 million trees by 2033, showing how a single day of volunteer labor can support a watershed that carries real costs for Syracuse, Onondaga County and the communities tied to the lake.