WE DID IT!!
Friends of the IBA has been awarded a $75,000 Professional Development grant from the 2017 New York State Conservation Partnership Program (NYSCPP)! Thanks to the generosity of our members, supporters and the Board of Directors we raised the $25,000 in matching funds required to apply for the maximum amount. We were one of only seven land trusts to receive this grant.
“It comes at a perfect time,” said Friends of the IBA Director Laurie LaFond. “We’re in the middle of a fundraising campaign to acquire and permanently protect another 64 acres of critical habitat in the Washington County Grasslands IBA (Important Bird Area). We need paid staff to support and expand our land conservation program. This grant will enable us to hire a full-time Executive Director and a part-time office manager to do that.”
NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos announced a total of $1.8 million in Conservation Partnership Program grants to 58 land trusts across the state. DEC and the Land Trust Alliance unveiled the grantees at an Earth Week event in Putnam County last Wednesday. The grants, funded through New York’s Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), leverage an additional $1.5 million in private and local funding raised by the land trusts. The program is administered by the Land Trust Alliance in coordination with DEC.
“…this initiative enables land trusts, local communities and private landowners to better protect New York’s most important water resources, farmlands, wildlife habitats and urban green spaces,” said Andrew Bowman, president of the Land Trust Alliance. “On behalf of the Land Trust Alliance and our supporters, we thank Governor Cuomo, Commissioner Seggos and the New York State Legislature for supporting these efforts.”
Friends of the IBA adds our thanks to the Land Trust Alliance and DEC for all their hard work on this program.
[Photo: Washington County Land Trust Directors at the Earth Week event with DEC Executive Deputy Commissioner Ken Lynch (2nd from right) and top DEC officials; left to right: Kathy Moser, DEC Deputy Commissioner of Natural Resources; Francis Sheehan, DEC Assistant Director Lands & Forests; Lorraine Merghart-Ballard, Director Battenkill Conservancy; Lynch; Laurie LaFond, Friends of the IBA Director; missing from photo: Teri Ptacek, Executive Director Agricultural Stewardship Association]