THE FINGER LAKES
MUSEUM & AQUARIUM Dedicated to celebrating the Finger Lakes Region in its entirety. DIVE IN Embracing Change.................................... 2 Donation leads to Healthier Future......... 3 How to Give............................................ 4-5 Experiencing the Indoors...................... 6-8
Saving the Best for Last................. 9 Out on the Water ......................... 10 An Experience for Everyone....... 10 Finger Lakes Foodways................ 11
EMBRACING CHANGE You may not be aware that The Finger Lakes Museum has been re-branded, relocated, and renamed as The Finger Lakes Museum & Aquarium (FLM&A). The project has made significant headway since its inception in the summer of 2008. The progress made is thanks to the steadfast commitment and support from donors, volunteers, Boards and staff, as well as significant organizational changes some planned, others not. Recently, we announced a significant strategic change by consolidating the entire project from its two planned locations into one - the former Branchport Elementary School site on Guyanoga Road. During the initial renovation phase of the building on site, it became evident that none of the existing walls were load-bearing. Removing the walls resulted in 17,000 square feet of clear-span open space, which increased options and opportunities for developing the space. With 13 acres at the existing site and the recent generous gift of 16 acres of adjacent wetlands, the site now features a total of 29 acres. While some may view change as negative, we are embracing it. The recent change in strategy now offers more options and opportunities than were previously BOARD OF TRUSTEES John Adamski, President.......... Dansville Ramona Englebrecht................. Rochester William F. Gaske........................ Canandaigua Philip Lentini.............................. Penfield Henry Maus................................ Canandaigua John Meisch................................ Canandaigua Wendy Mervis............................. Rochester Tim Sellers................................... Geneva George Slocum........................... Aurora David Wegman........................... Hilton Rolf Zerges................................... Keuka Park
ABOUT US. WHY GIVE
2. E M B R AC I N G C H A N G E.
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available. Even though the site is being redesigned, the mission of the Museum & Aquarium remains the same to provide a place, dedicated to celebrating and educating others on the Finger Lakes Region – a place that is second to none. Together, we can make The Finger Lakes Museum & Aquarium become a reality in the very near future. Like other charitable institutions, the Museum & Aquarium depends on annual charitable gifts and donations from individuals, businesses, and other organizations to develop and grow. During this developmental phase and into the future, annual support is key to the Organization's ability to realize its vision as a unique educational, environmental, and cultural resource for the entire Finger Lakes Region and as an attraction and destination for visitors and residents alike. What began as a dream is now growing closer to a reality thanks to you! Please consider giving again - or giving for the first time if you haven’t before. There are many ways one can give to The Finger Lakes Museum & Aquarium: Leadership gifts, annual campaign contributions, and honorary, memorial, and in-kind donations. We would be happy to meet with with you to discuss any and all of the options that are available. Thank you again for your faith in our mission and for your continuing support in helping to create a premier educational institution to showcase the Finger Lakes Region.
John Adamski Board President
Phil Lentini
Executive Director
DONATION leads to HEALTHIER FUTURE The site of The Finger Lakes Museum & Aquarium doubled in size thanks to a generous gift from long-time Museum & Aquarium supporters and neighbors. Museum Board member Rolf Zerges and his wife, Lynda Rummel have supported the Organization since its inception in the Summer of 2008. Anne and Kent Salisbury became Founders of the Museum & Aquarium in 2009. Both couples, along with Anne’s sister, Molly Sujan, donated 16 acres of pristine wetland located at the north end of the west branch of Keuka Lake to the Organization. The wetland, titled The Townsend-Grady Wildlife Preserve, was named in honor of Anne and Molly’s father and grandmother. The Preserve is connected to the Museum & Aquarium campus by Sugar Creek, a navigable tributary of Keuka Lake. Teeming with wildlife, the visitor experience at the Preserve is currently being evaluated by our architects and exhibit designers. A variety of bird and waterfowl species as well as mammals like beavers, foxes, and mink already inhabit the wetland and
bald eagles and ospreys perch there on occasion. It is also home to the somewhat rare and prehistoriclooking soft-shelled turtle. Along with its use for biological studies and education programming, the wetland has a very important role in the ecosystem of Keuka Lake. This wetland prevents flooding by absorbing the lake water when it rises and will slowly release water when the lake levels dip. It also provides a protective habitat for many animals during migration and reproduction. The wetland serves as a natural water purification system by recycling nutrients found in decaying vegetative matter, sediments, and other various substances. There is really no other ecosystem that exists that can provide so many positive impacts to a body of water like a wetland. The plan is to build a system of elevated boardwalks and interpretative areas throughout the TownsendGrady Wildlife Preserve to provide visitors with opportunities to immerse themselves into a world that is not normally accessible to the everyday visitor. Do you share a love for teaching others the importance of natural ecosystems? Consider supporting the creation of boardwalks and interpretive areas with a financial gift, or by volunteering your services when the time comes to build them.
D O N AT I O N L E A D S TO H E A LT H I E R F U T U R E. 3 .
HOW TO GIVE INDIVIDUAL AND CORPORATE GIFTS Annual gifts in any amount from individuals and corporations throughout the community are critical to The Finger Lakes Museum & Aquarium’s ability to develop educational programs and services. These programs and services will provide tourists and thousands of area children and families the opportunity to learn about the natural and cultural history of the Finger Lakes through exhibitions and presentations at the Museum & Aquarium’s campus. Annual gifts from individuals and corporations also provide critical funding for ongoing historical and environmental preservation efforts. Donors help the Museum & Aquarium develop and expand exhibitions and wildlife sanctuaries like the Bald Eagle aviary soon to be built on the Organization’s grounds. Funding also helps to continue providing experiences such as guided boating and canoeing adventures on Keuka Lake, and the production of historical documentaries such as the recently completed film chronicle, Vine to Wine, highlighting winemaking in the Finger Lakes. In addition, annual gifts support research, exploration, presentations, and exhibits related to cutting-edge environmental issues, such as the damaging effects of the Zebra Mussel and other invasive species affecting the Finger Lakes Community.
LEADERSHIP GIFTS Individuals and Corporations making leadership gifts of $1,000 or more make a significant impact on the Museum & Aquarium and help generate additional support. Leadership donors are invited to participate in special leadership opportunities, including meeting with the Organization’s leadership team. Leadership giving levels - Platinum, Gold, and Silver connect to specific levels of recognition and access to special institutional experiences year-round.
SPONSORSHIP AND PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES The Museum & Aquarium offers opportunities for individuals, foundations, and corporations to serve as partners or sponsors of exhibits, programs, and events, giving sponsors increased visibility with families and residents throughout the region and supporting corporate marketing and branding initiatives.
4. H O W TO G I V E.
PLANNED GIVING Donors wishing to make a long-term philanthropic impact may wish to explore planned giving opportunities in support of The Finger Lakes Museum & Aquarium. Planned or deferred gifts can play an important role in the long-term health and future viability of the Museum & Aquarium as a centerpiece for the Finger Lakes. Through foresight and generosity, individuals can work with their own financial advisors and the Organization’s staff to fulfill long-term philanthropic goals while realizing tax benefits. Additionally, planned or deferred gifts often enable donors to make a more significant gift than might otherwise be possible. Typically, the following are considered as possible planned giving vehicles with the guidance of the donor’s financial advisor(s): Bequests, Appreciated Securities, Charitable Remainder Trust, Charitable Lead Trusts, Life Insurance Policies, Real Property, and Pooled Life Income Funds. Please note that it is important to consult with a financial advisor before making major financial decisions. Donors may also want to include The Finger Lakes Museum & Aquarium in their estate plans and to notify the Organization of planned estate gifts to ensure that proper planning measures are in place and appropriate acknowledgement is provided.
HONOR OR IN MEMORIAM Gifts made in honor or in memoriam of special individuals or events are important tributes and commemorations that link philanthropic support of the Museum & Aquarium with meaningful recognition expressed publicly by the donor. Tax-deductible gifts can be made to honor the lives and achievements of individuals who have passed away or the birthdays, anniversaries, or milestones of family, friends, or colleagues. Those being honored or the family of those being memorialized will be notified of the donor’s gift.
IN-KIND GIFTS OF GOODS OR SERVICES Individuals and businesses can make gifts in the form of goods and services as well, reducing The Finger Lakes Museum & Aquarium’s need to purchase these items. For more information, or to make an in-kind contribution of goods or services, please contact Executive Director, Philip Lentini, at plentini@fingerlakesmuseum.org.
H O W TO G I V E. 5.
EXPERIENCING the INDOORS
Photo provided by New Energy Works as a sample of what an entrance could look like at the Museum & Aquarium site.
The existing building at The Finger Lakes Museum & Aquarium site provides 17,000 square feet of clear-span open space that will be developed into an exhibit hall and auditorium - with more space being added as needed. We are working with nationally-acclaimed architects and exhibit designers to create both permanent and revolving exhibits that will provide unforgettable visitor experiences and tell remarkable stories of the cultural heritage and ecological evolution of the vast Finger Lakes Region. These stories are endless. Beginning with Native American and European Settlers who shared this land in the past, to the Old Order cultures who share the countryside today with the grape-growing and winemaking entrepreneurs, even the use of the land itself has changed. A Forest to Farmland to Forest exhibit will tell those stories and more - and account for the past disappearance and present return of various species of wildlife that have been absent from the region for more than a century. In the following, learn more about some of the stories the FLM&A plans to tell within the walls of its facility:
BALD EAGLE EXHIBIT
The Thomas J. Rauber Bald Eagle Exhibit will tell the most successful wildlife conservation story in American History. As an amateur naturalist, Tom Rauber discovered the last remaining pair of nesting bald eagles in New York State in 1965 and witnessed their continuing failure to hatch an egg. His own personal research and collaboration with academic eagle experts, the US Fish & Wildlife Service, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) set the stage for a dramatic and intense bald eagle recovery program that became the model for other states and Canadian provinces to follow.
6. E X P E R I E N C I N G T H E I N D O O R S .
INDOOR EXPERIENCE
Many of Tom Rauber’s artifacts, films, and photos will be on display and used to create educational programs for classroom and television documentary film use.
BALD EAGLE AVIARY
The DEC discontinued its bald eagle research program in 2007, the year that our national symbol was removed from the Endangered Species List. The bald eagle population in New York alone has grown from a single pair in 1965 to more than 300 pairs today and is self-sustaining. The agency still has in its possession two young rehabilitated adult eagles, which it is giving to The Finger Lakes Museum & Aquarium. Both birds are human-dependent and can’t be released into the wild. These live specimens will enable the Organization to collaborate with academia in the study of bald eagle behavior and they will become wildlife ambassadors to teach the need to conserve and preserve our natural resources.
LIVING WITH BLACK BEARS
For more than a century, the once-common black bear has been missing from the Finger Lakes regional landscape. The clearing of forests for farmland removed most of its habitat and the pioneer farmer’s intolerance of the bruin took care of any lingering loners. But that was then and this is now. A century ago, nearly 70 percent of the region was under the plow. Today, that same percentage is forested. As abandoned agricultural fields become fallow and gradually revert to woodlots, the habitat is now once again hospitable to black bear occupation. The trouble is, four generations of Finger Lakers have no idea how to coexist with black bears but coexist they must. The Finger Lakes Museum & Aquarium will partner with DEC to develop an exhibit and programs that will enable residents to learn how to live with bears.
INVASIVE SPECIES
From Asian Clams, Round Gobies and Zebra Mussels to Eurasian Milfoil, Hydrilla, and Purple Loosestrife, the Finger Lakes are being invaded by dozens of exotic animal and plant species that compete with native organisms and upset the balance of nature. In collaboration with DEC and regional academic institutions, the Museum & Aquarium plans to teach people how to prevent the introduction and spread of nonnative species. Keuka Park, Seneca Falls, NY NY 3 Permit No. 80
PAID
E X P E R I E N C I N G T H E I N D O O R S . 7.
Non-Profit Organization US Postage
EXPERIENCING the INDOORS FINGER LAKES RESEARCH LIBRARY
As The Finger Lakes Museum & Aquarium engages in the research and development of its own exhibits and programs, it will acquire materials that will become the foundation for a Finger Lakes Research Library. Working together with its academic partners, the Museum & Aquarium will also be conducting studies and documenting findings, which will then be archived in such a way that they can be easily accessed by students and researchers alike. The Finger Lakes Research Library will one day become the go-to place to learn anything and everything about the Finger Lakes Region.
RADIO & TELEVISION STUDIO
The Finger Lakes Museum & Aquarium is planning to incorporate a radio and television studio where educational programs can be developed for classroom and television documentary use. Programs that tell the stories of grape-growing and winemaking in the Finger Lakes Region and chronicle the historic restoration of America’s bald eagle are already in production. The Museum & Aquarium’s auditorium will be just one of the many public venues where these programs will be presented. DVD-formatted programs will also be produced for retail sales.
RETAIL SHOP & BOOKSTORE
The Museum & Aquarium will feature a retail outlet where books, calendars, DVDs, and a variety of gifts and logo items can be purchased onsite or online through the FLM&A’s secure website. A food court is also being planned so that visitors will be able to stay for lunch.
OTHER EXHIBITS & PROGRAMS
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Fishing the Finger Lakes Wetland Exploration Lyme Disease Aquatic Sciences Research Our Returning Wildlife
WETLANDS AQ UA R I U M E X P E R I E N C E
8. E X P E R I E N C I N G T H E I N D O O R S .
WETLANDS. CREEKSIDE CENTER.
SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST
The jewel in the crown of The Finger Lakes Museum & Aquarium will be the Aquarium exhibit itself. Built to geologically replicate the glaciallycarved cross-section of a typical Finger Lake, it is planned to be the largest freshwater aquarium in the Northeast. Visitors will enjoy an underwater experience by walking along the lake bottom through a glass tunnel, which will afford a fish-eye view of the various species of fish that are native to the Finger Lakes, as well as some of the nonnative fishes that have been inadvertently or intentionally introduced. You’ll come face-to-face with largemouth and smallmouth bass, colorful rainbow trout, toothy northern pike, and bottom-dwelling lake trout to name just a few.
Viewed from the lakeshore above, a waterfall tumbling into the Aquarium from a boulder-strewn ravine will represent the region’s numerous cascades and provide needed aeration and circulation to the Aquarium. At the lake’s outlet, kids of all ages will enjoy rolling up their sleeves to reach into a series of shallow touch tanks to sample the feel of aquatic animals like crayfish, frogs, salamanders, tadpoles, and turtles. Since the Museum & Aquarium’s main mission is to educate, isolated sections of the Aquarium will exhibit the impacts of invasive plant and animal species such as hydrilla, purple loosestrife, and zebra mussels, as well as problems caused by man, like the polluting and trashing of our waterways. The underlying theme will be the conservation and preservation of all of our freshwater resources. The importance of wetland preservation will be highlighted and virtually connected to programs at the newly-acquired Townsend-Grady Wildlife Preserve near the Museum’s Campus on Sugar Creek. The Aquarium is the most ambitious and expensive part of The Finger Lakes Museum & Aquarium project. It is also the iconic feature that will draw thousands of visitors from near and far. While other facets of the project are shovel-ready now, the Aquarium is being planned for development at a later date. However, the strategic campaign to raise funds to build the Aquarium is currently being designed.
S AV I N G T C H ER EB EESKTSFI O DRE LCA ES T.N T9.E R
OUT on the WATER
Perhaps the most exciting hands-on feature at the Finger Lakes Museum & Aquarium will be the Creekside Center, where there will be a kayak and canoe livery on Sugar Creek. Visitors can rent a boat and accompany a licensed guide through the marshlands of Sugar Creek and out into the open waters of Keuka Lake’s West Branch. The FLM&A carried out its first series of water-based programming in 2014. A variety of paddling classes were offered to visitors and residents. Each class, led by the Museum & Aquarium’s NYS Licensed Guides, included educational components highlighting both cultural stories and the natural history in and surrounding Keuka Lake. The goal is to continue offering classes in the years to come - introducing people of all ages and skill levels to a “water-eye view” of wildlife and interpretive lessons to instill a meaningful sense of conservation, preservation and stewardship for all visitors.
AN EXPERIENCE FOR EVERYONE Accessing the Finger Lakes is an experience that the Museum & Aquarium feels every person should have. As part of its Creekside Center, the FLM&A will be installing an accessible kayak and canoe launch on its property along Sugar Creek. This launch will enable all of its guests the ability to access a pristine tributary filled with wildlife and fauna in an untouched, natural setting. A crowd-funding campaign will be taking place with the goal of raising $30,000 to prepare the launch site, purchase the proper equipment, and install the launch pad - hopefully in 2015! If you are interested in making a donation towards the completion of this launch, please contact Phil Lentini at plentini@fingerlakesmuseum.
10. O U T O N T H E WAT E R | A N E X P E R I E N C E F O R E V E R YO N E.
Thanks to a generous grant received from the William G. McGowan Charitable Fund, we are excited to offer the Finger Lakes Foodways program to area schools for a second year! The Finger Lakes Foodways program is an exciting, technology based, integrated curriculum that engages students in the history and science of growing healthy vegetables and herbs from seed to table. The program includes hands-on lessons in soil science, seed and plant structures, plant growth cycles, nutrient transfer, hydroponics, vermiculture, agricultural history, and more! Teachers can choose to teach the lessons themselves or request a Finger Lakes Museum & Aquarium educator to deliver instruction. To learn more about this program or to sign up to have your class or local school participate, visit our website at www.FingerLakesMuseum.org or contact our educators, Pat Atkinson or Angela Cannon at: patkinson@fingerlakesmuseum.org angie@fingerlakesmuseum.org
Participating Classes Will Receive: • A portable classroom garden kit containing hydroponic, soil, & vermiculture channels • Root viewer • Grow lights • Seeds & growing pots • Soil & compost • Finger Lakes Foodways Curriculum binder that includes: • An overview of the curriculum • Lesson plans aligned to NYS Intermediate Science & Social Studies standards (Grades 4, 5, & 7) • Access to videos, slide shows, web links, and more!
F I N G E R L A K E S F O O D WAYS . 11.
THE FINGER LAKES
MUSEUM & AQUARIUM
PO Box 96 | Keuka Park, NY 14478
www.FingerLakesMuseum.org
Dedicated to celebrating the Finger Lakes Region in its entirety.
Photos Courtesy of: John Adamski, Pat Atkinson, Bohlin Cwyinski Jackson, CMCreative Design, Helen Heizyk, Nigel P. Kent, New Energy Works, Natalie Payne, Dick Thomas, Annette Toaspern
The Finger Lakes Museum & Aquarium
PO Box 96 | Keuka Park, NY 14478 Field Office: 110 North Main Street | Penn Yan, NY 14527 315.595.2200 www.FingerLakesMuseum.org John Adamski President jadamski@fingerlakesmuseum.org 585.746.6247
Philip Lentini Executive Director plentini@fingerlakesmuseum.org 585.662.7949
Natalie Payne Communications & Programs Director npayne@fingerlakesmuseum.org 607.368.3054
The Finger Lakes Museum & Aquarium is a not for profit 501(c)(3) organization with a Charter as an educational institution from the New York Board of Regents.