Webster Pond

Webster Pond

Forever Wild Nature Conservation Area

Anglers Association of Onondaga County
1948 Valley Drive
Syracuse, New York

Webster Pond (or the Duck Pond) as many area residents call it, is a privately owned reserve, not a park. They don't allow cookouts. It's a wonderful place to just relax, feed the geese, ducks, and fish. They furnish cups of cracked corn for the birds for a small donation. Also, they have a little vending machine that dispenses fish food for 10 cents. There are lot's of ducks and geese here, a swan, and a few blue herons. The fish in the pond get rather large, because fishing is prohibited, except for children 7 to 16 years old on Saturdays between April 1st and September 30th, from 8 A.M. to Noon. Cost is $10 per child. They can keep 2 trout, and all other fish, if they wish. To find out more details on this, stop by.

The land originally belonged to Revolutionary War Veteran Ephriam Webster. When the Anglers Association moved in, the site was strewn with trash and was being considered as a landfill. The pond was reclaimed after much hard work and dedication. In fact, Webster Pond has been declared a Forever Wild Nature Conservation Area. Wild life common to the area include: ducks, Canada geese, heron, purple marten, deer, fox, mink, raccoons, squirrel, woodchuck, oppossum and turtles. The Anglers Club is the oldest continuously active sportsmen's club in New York State having passed its hundredth birthday in 1990. It is also the only active conservation organization located within the confines of a city.

The Anglers Association of Onondaga was formed in the Spring of 1890 at the insistence of local sportsmen who were angered over the pollution and exploitation of fish in Oneida Lake. With the appointment of Thomas G. Alvord as chairman, the creation of a constitution and by-laws, the Association was on its way. The Anglers Association of Onondaga paid for game wardens which the State Conservation Department could not provide. Pressure from area businessmen and the Syracuse Newspapers prompted New York State to find funding for permanent wardens on its own budget just a few years later. The objective of The Anglers Association of Onondaga is as follows:

"For the protection of fish in the waters, game in the field, and song and insectivorious birds in the fields and forests of Onondaga County for the benefit of all people."

In compliance with this credo, fish and game violators were sought and reported to wardens, netting 300 arrests and ten thousand dollars in fines paid. Another service provided by the Anglers Association of Onondaga is the restocking of fish and wildlife, in particular brook and rainbow trout and pheasants. Between 1890 and 1932 over 26 million trout and walleye, three thousand pheasants, and one half million bass were stocked by this organization. In 1960 the Anglers Association made Webster Pond its home, through a long term lease with the city of Syracuse.

Many prominent persons have been members of this group, including former Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. The Onondaga County Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs was founded in 1951 to unify 33 member clubs throughout Onondaga County. The Anglers Association has been a member since its founding. They have participated in the Pheasants Afield Program, The North Eastern Sports Show, Wally Taber Shows, The Sportsmen's March on Albany, The Oneida Lake Fishing Pier, and National Hunting and Fishing Day. The Anglers Association of Onondaga also holds the copyrights to the Oneida Lake Fishing Maps, stemming from the group's earlier association with Oneida Lake. Today the Anglers have been able to provide college scholarships in the biological related fields, magazine subscriptions, book donations and audio/visual tape and equipment to the Betts Branch of the Onondaga Public Library, as well as hosting various groups at the pond. There are band concerts, arts& craft shows, and hunter safety courses during the summer. The junior angler program is also offered at the pond for boys and girls 7-15 years of age. The Anglers Association encompasses 250 junior and senior members. New members are always welcome, the fee is only ten dollars a year. Webster Pond is open to the public from sun up to sundown daily. Donations to The Angler Association of Onondaga may be made at the pond.