The Land Trust Alliance (LTA) has selected the Putnam County Land Trust and the Accredited Oblong Land Conservancy to receive the Alliance’s National Land Trust Excellence Award for all-volunteer land trusts. This is one of three awards given each year among the more than 1600 land trusts across the country. It is the first time this award will recognize volunteer trusts in New York State.
This award is presented in honor of their collaborative conservation work in The Great Swamp watershed, one of the three largest wetlands in New York State. The wetlands cover some 6,700 acres and the uplands surrounding the swamp provide a watershed of approximately 62,500 upland acres.
Commenting on the award, PCLT President Judy Terlizzi said, “For the Putnam County Land Trust to receive national recognition alongside the Oblong Land Conservancy is most gratifying. The continuing work and support of our trustees, volunteers, members and friends is what makes our work possible, and I want to thank all of them for what they do. PCLT will continue to work with other conservation organizations including Friends of the Great Swamp in protecting this critical resource.”
Conservation of the Great Swamp is vital for a number of reasons:
• It provides the sole recharge facility for the aquifer that serves more than 40,000 people in the Watershed,
• It forms the headwaters of the Croton Reservoir System that provides New York City with some of its drinking water, and
• It provides critical habitat for a wide variety of flora and fauna, some of which are endangered.
This collaboration is an important initiative since it recognizes that conservation goes beyond the efforts of a single land trust. It is one of 13 inter-state and inter-town partnerships happening in New York and Connecticut. These land trusts recognize that together we can achieve much more than we can as individual organizations.
“Oblong Land Conservancy and Putnam County Land Trust epitomize all we recognize in Excellence Award recipients,” says Land Trust Alliance President Andrew Bowman. “Through the highest caliber work, Oblong Land Conservancy and Putnam County Land Trust has broadened support for land conservation, built understanding and grown the conservation community.”
The two local land trusts will be receiving the award at the Alliance’s Rally 2016: The National Land Conservation Conference taking place from October 28thto 30th at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis. The presentation will be made during the welcoming dinner in the evening of the 28th.
For more information visit www.pclt.net or www.oblongland.org.