From The Waterman Center: Help Us Build A New Barn!

With as many trail and conservation projects as the Waterman Center does, it takes a lot of equipment, and you need a place to store it all! The six nature preserves, which span both Broome and Tioga counties, demand a central storage location. For Waterman, that means a barn at our main interpretive center in Apalachin.

For close to 50 years, the current barn has served as a conservation superstore for staff and volunteers who need to trim trees, build trails, and take care of the buildings, shelters, and signage. Its wooden walls are lined with shovels, picks, and trimmers. Their collection of donated and refurbished mowers rests on the gravel floor.

Unfortunately, the barn is also a damp, aging structure that has begun to fall apart. Waterman has exciting plans to upcycle old shipping containers to create an even better structure, but they need the community’s help to make it happen!

Obtaining the containers is relatively simple and cheap since there is a ready supply of aging units that are beginning to pile up in scrapyards. However, the process of designing and transforming them into a building with storage, workshop, and flexible-use spaces to work on new conservation projects will cost more than what the center has in its emergency reserves fund (note to readers: If you happen to be a professional engineer and would like to volunteer some time for design development, please get in touch).

When completed, the two metal shipping containers will be joined by a roof, resulting in a lot more space that will remain dry and last for many, many years.

While a fixture of operations for decades, the current barn’s configuration is cramped, with little useful working area. 

The center looks forward to designing a space geared toward the effective storage of both equipment and materials that also reserves an open “shop” area. With the new barn situated next to the green-roofed Margaret Mee Outdoor Classroom, they will be able to fabricate materials and run workshops out of the new barn, helping to empower the community to live in balance with nature.

As Waterman Center gets closer to its 50th anniversary, look for opportunities to support this and other important conservation projects from the Waterman Center. The first of these is an upcoming “Barn-Raiser” Community Yard Sale on Sept. 6, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Several households and Waterman will have tables of items for sale both indoors and outdoors.  

Contact them at (607) 625-5333 to rent a space or donate items for the sale. Of course, you can also donate directly to support the new barn project and show your enthusiasm for this innovative building project that promotes sustainability and drives a grassroots nonprofit organization that connects people to nature.

For more information, please contact the Waterman Conservation Education Center by e-mailing info@watermancenter.org, using their contact form at www.watermancenter.org, or by calling (607) 625-2221.