Following months of repair and restoration work, Cornell Plantations officials will mark the reopening to the public of the Cascadilla Gorge Trail with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 2 p.m. at the College Avenue trail entrance.

The scenic, water-level trail has been closed to the public since January 1996, when severe winter flooding washed out stone bridges, stairways and paths that were first built by Civilian Conservation Corps workers in the 1930s. State and federal emergency-management funding, awarded with assistance from State Assemblyman Martin A. Luster (D-125th) and U.S. Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey (D-26th), helped rebuild the one-third-mile-long trail.

In addition to serving as a popular commuting route for pedestrians and a visitors' attraction in the Plantations Path system, the trail offers access for biology and geology classes studying the gorge's distinctive features. Because of the rugged terrain, repair materials had to be lowered from bridges and hand-carried into place along the trail. Cornell Plantations is the university's museum of living plants and manages some 200 acres of natural areas on the campus as well as 2,700 acres in Tompkins and surrounding counties.