Volunteer Spotlight October 2026: The Vidler Educational Campus

“We’re so happy that we can rest knowing that the land is cared for. Land holds memories and our memories will always live on here” Those are the words that Ann Vidler shared with me as we went for a walk around the Vidler Educational Campus this Fall. If you haven’t heard the news, Baltimore Woods Nature Center was recently donated a piece of land about 3 miles away from our main preserve to serve as an educational site for generations to explore, learn, and connect with nature. This land was generously donated by Dale and Ann Vidler, who have continued to stay connected to the land and Baltimore Woods since donating the property. This month’s Volunteer Spotlight is all about the care and passion Dale and Ann have put into this space as well as our other volunteers that have helped it become a space for education. You’ll also get a peek into all of the continued hard work our volunteers will put into the site to transform it into a wonderful educational campus.

Dale and Ann have been very generous with their time and are always willing to share the story of the property and of the many memories made there. Dale spent much of his childhood out in the woods exploring, building, or getting into mischief on the acreage of land across from his home, which was made up of farm land, woodland, and wetland. Some of their adventures included staying overnight in a home-made cabin complete with chairs made from grapevines by him and his family, climbing trees only to discover grumpy racoons at the top, and so many more memories. The many hours spent tackling the unique challenges and beauty of the terrain inspired a lifelong love for being outdoors.

For decades, this land has been enjoyed by Vidler friends and family. Family reunion picnics were hosted here, neighbors explored snowmobile trails, and dozens of other seasonal traditions were created. After all those years of memories, the Vidlers couldn’t imagine selling off the property and watching it be developed. It was Dale who came up with the idea to donate the land to Baltimore Woods, and Ann could not have been prouder of him for that, she continues to share how excited they both were when he thought of the idea. Both of the Vidler’s have a background in education and knew they wanted to preserve the land in a way that would allow for similar memories and educational experiences to be created for hundreds of other kids and local families.

Since donating the land, the Vidlers have remained very involved and engaged as we have been working to turn the property into what is now the Baltimore Woods Nature Center Vidler Educational Campus. Their willingness to share their stories and memories with us has helped us think about how the space could be used. Dale has also helped our stewardship staff with some of the work to maintain the land. He continues to help with mowing, using his tractors to move materials and earth, and helping transport staff around the area. It’s been a huge help to know the Vidlers are just across the street and happy to lend a hand, visit with the Teen Trail School program (the inaugural educational program located at the site), or help us host a volunteer lunch at the campus. A lot of the progress in turning the land into a usable educational site has been possible because of some other volunteers, mainly the A-Team. 

The A-Team volunteers are over at the site frequently helping with a range of things like clearing trails, posting signs, cleaning out culverts, and more. A really important stewardship project that some volunteers helped with was treating hemlock trees to protect them against the destructive hemlock wooly adelgid, which is an invasive species destroying hemlock stands across the northeast. This project was hugely important, as the hemlocks on the property are important characters of the site that make up the forest. There is even one hemlock tree that is over 38 inches in diameter, which is very large for a hemlock.

We’ve also had other community members help out at Vidler, including Travis, who owns land neighboring the property. Travis has helped our staff out with histractor, specifically, when the culvert on the site blew out and he helped us repair it. Another team of volunteers, Board Member Tony Cimpi and hydrogeologist Tim Daniluk, helped our staff map the wetland boundaries on the site so that we can plan future improvements, like building a yurt and entrance drive without damaging any of the wetland habitat. Thanks to all of the volunteer help so far, we were able to start hosting educational programs at the campus last spring. Because of a new grant from the Central New York Community Foundation that we just received, we will be able to start really improving the site to make it more functional for education programs by repairing the road, adding storage structures, installing all-weather shelter, improving access, and more. We were only able to apply and receive this grant because we knew we have a passionate group of committed volunteers that will help us accomplish all of these big projects

It’s so exciting that the acreage that forged strong friendships, tested wilderness survival skills, hosted family reunion picnics, and gave many local kids their first glimpses into the wonder of the natural world will continue to have a legacy of connecting people to nature. This dream wouldn’t have been possible without all of the support from Ann and Dale Vidler and all of the amazing volunteers who have donated their time there. We can’t wait to see how this place transforms.