ROMULUS, NY — Defending our planet and the life upon it is a difficult, often thankless job. The time invested is long - but when the goal is finally achieved, it makes the long journey all the more worth it.
In the Seneca White Deer's case, that journey has been one of decades.
Dennis Money, Seneca White Deer Inc. President explained, "The land here was an Army munitions depot from WWII until 2000. The well protected depot harbored both arms and a unique herd of white White Tailed Deer, and it's Colonel at the time should be credited with impressive foresight [...] He should be recognized as a visionary! The Army - when you think of the word conservation - that was pretty new word. The Army never really paid much heed to it until these white deer came about, and I think they had developed a good relationship with the old Conservation Department of NY State."
In 1998, Seneca White Deer Inc. was formed to protect the pale Deer which had flourished in the depot for so long. It was just the beginning of what turned into a twenty year battle for Money and the organization.
"I referred to it like a military campaign. Every time we landed on the beach, we got pushed back into the ocean. I call ourselves the conservation marines, we kept going forward, and it finally paid off."
In 2016, the Seneca County Industrial Development Agency, which had owned the property since the Army left in 2000, agreed to transfer the remaining 7,000 acres to private hands. Money says a new visitor center went up in late 2017, and public tours were an immediate hit.
"We built the visitors center in about ten weeks, and we really wanted to do something in the winter, now that's the anti-tourism season, is November until now, until April, but by the end of December, six weeks, we had nineteen hundred people come, and so we knew we had something that people wanted to see."
It is hoped that protecting the white deer will lead to a greater understanding of all nature.
"Having people get excited about seeing wildlife helps other wildlife that's not so attractive, like Snapping Turtles, Pygmy Shrews, those kind of critters...and if you get people excited about habitat and wildlife, they're gonna win! People are going to have a better understanding of the less flamboyant species out there."
Perhaps the victory for the Seneca White Deer can also be an inspiration to others laboring for the Earth, gaining strength with the knowledge that each of us can make a difference.
"To go out, sit on top of an igloo, I listen to the silence and watch a deer walk by, maybe see a hawk in the sky, and just know that we've accomplished something after we've been told no, you'll never accomplish a thing."
To book a tour to see the deer, click here.