As a November wind buffeted High Falls, a red-tailed hawk circled overhead, focused on the gorge a hundred feet below.
On the Pont de Rennes Bridge, Gay Mills gazed in the same direction.
"Down by the river, it feels really different than it does here," she said. "You wouldn't know where you are. There's also just, very dramatic scenery - both from the falls but also other sections."
Seeing the possibilities in a plot of land has been big part of Mills' work over the last 30 years with Genesee Land Trust, 25 as its executive director.
What she sees in the gorge, still marked by reminders of its industrial past, is the future High Falls State Park - a project still years away from materializing - but one that has the potential to make High Falls a tourist destination.
Over the last several decades, that same vision guided Mills and her organization with the help of other community partners, to reclaim over 6,000 acres of natural lands and waterways in Monroe, Wayne, and small sections of bordering counties.
One of those projects is the El Camino Trail, just north of High Falls. The multi-use, two and a quarter mile recreational trail follows the path of an old, abandoned railroad track. Today, it's enjoyed by hikers and cyclists.
"Gay was a visionary," said Theresa Bowick, founder of the neighborhood cycling program Conkey Cruisers, which began on the trail. "She saw beyond what existed in that space and was really able to tap into and advocate for making that space what...
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