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The Florence Shelly Preserve boasts fields, woodlands, a stream and a glacial pond surrounded by a floating bog. The former owner of the property, Florence Shelly, spearheaded its protection by assembling a team of citizen naturalists and volunteer professors from SUNY Binghamton to take an inventory. They found a lot of biological diversity, including a rare red alga, and insectivorous sundew and pitcher plants. The Shelly family donated the land to The Nature Conservancy in the 1980s. Later, the purchase of nearby Plew's Swamp completed the preserve.
Threats
Over browsing by deer Pathogens such as hemlock wooly adelgid and emerald ash borer. Invasion by non-native invasive plants.
Milestones
The Shelley family donated the property to TNC in the early 1980s. TNC’s acquisition of nearby Plew's Swamp in the late 1990s completed the preserve.