WATERLOO — Leaders of a nonprofit group say a new partnership may be forming with Seneca County officials to protect a herd of all white deer.

Lawmakers will be deciding whether or not to transfer responsibility of the Seneca Army Depot from the Seneca County IDA to the county itself. The resolution says the county would keep a herd of about 200 all white deer live on the property in mind while selling parts of the land.

“We just feel that we have an advantage because we’re promoting tourism, but at the same our disadvantage is that we don’t have the amount of money that some of our competitors have. But by partnering with Seneca County, we can put all of the money that we’ve raised to date to put directly into tourism,” Dennis Money, the president of the non-profit group Seneca White Deer, said.

The non-profit group Seneca White Deer has been advocating for some of this land to become a deer preserve, which they say could become an ecotourism attraction.

Money says they there have been other successful models for ecotourism that have helped smaller communities.

“We’re very confident that we could model ourselves after the very successful elk population in Elk County, Pennsylvania. In this little sleep town of Benezette, Pennsylvania has seen an overnight revival because of people flocking to photograph the elk nearly every month of the year,” he said.

Money says the tourism that could be brought into the county because of the deer would also affect all of the Finger Lakes region. County officials will further discuss the measure at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday at the county building in Waterloo.