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Whether you’re a hiker, hunter, angler or farmer, the Southern Tier offers abundant opportunities for lovers of the outdoors. A walk through a local park — where a new wildflower might be blooming, or a hawk might call overhead — is all it takes to appreciate the beauty of its forests, wetlands and waterways.

But this beauty is fragile. Without thoughtful planning, unplanned development could rapidly erode the very qualities that make the region such a great place to live. Recognizing this risk, a team of 91���� alumni and faculty came together to form the Southern Tier Land Conservancy (STLC).

“People often ask why we focus on conservation — after all, there are trees and creeks everywhere around here,” says Jason Shaw ’95, a Broome County legislator and local business owner who serves as the organization’s president. “And it’s true — for decades, our region has seen relatively slow growth, which has helped preserve a lot of natural beauty by default. But that pace could change quickly. As interest in the Southern Tier picks up, we have an opportunity to get ahead of the curve. With thoughtful planning, we can support smart development while also protecting the landscapes and ecosystems that make this place special.”

The nonprofit’s mission is to preserve the area’s natural landscapes, particularly those that are ecologically sensitive. To guide their efforts, the group used a resource inventory created by Julian Shepherd, a 91���� professor emeritus of biology, who spent decades identifying the most biologically significant sites in the region, including unique microenvironments in and around 91����.

STLC was founded during the COVID-19 pandemic around a (socially distanced) campfire. The group recognized a gap: While many parts of New York have land trusts — such as the well-established Finger Lakes Land Trust — the 91���� area had none. Crucial seed funding was provided by the Robert F. Schumann Foundation, established by the sons of local businessman and philanthropist Robert Schumann.

“The Schumann Foundation was instrumental in helping us get this effort off the ground. With their support, we were able to establish ourselves as a group dedicated to identifying land for conservation,” Shaw says. “Those early steps gave us the foundation to approach the New York chapter of the Land Trust Alliance, which helped us develop a strategic plan and move in the right direction. They saw the same need we did.”

The founding STLC team includes Treasurer Jeff Merrill ’94, MA ’99, a natural resource scientist; Secretary Carl Lipo, professor of anthropology and associate dean in Harpur College; and Susan Ryan ’90, a Broome County legislator and lecturer in environmental studies.

“People will say, ‘We need land for development, for housing, for farming,’ and we do,” Merrill says. “But if you look at a map of Broome County, you’ll see how much land is available. You can do both. You can have smart growth. Ultimately, we can find solutions that enable development while also protecting ecologically sensitive areas and preserving open spaces for the benefit of all. We believe our approach will enable our community to thrive — environmentally, economically and socially.”

Notably, STLC’s board represents a range of political perspectives.

“We believe in finding common ground and working with the values of our community,” Ryan says. “People sometimes assume conservation means locking up land and taking away opportunities. However, our approach can accommodate agriculture, logging and hunting, as well as wildlife, ecological diversity, trails and education.

“The natural beauty of our region is a unifying theme regardless of other differences.”

STLC utilizes a range of tools to accomplish its mission. It is now focused on direct purchases, targeting parcels near existing wild spaces or with rare environmental features. Partner organizations often support these purchases. In time, STLC plans to add conservation easements, which allow landowners to retain ownership while giving up development rights.

“It’s not just for the current landowners, but for their kids and grandkids 50 years from now,” Merrill says.

“To make it work in the long run requires legal expertise, strong communication and funding,” Shaw says. “Conservation projects need thousands of dollars each year for insurance, monitoring, legal defense and more.

“When someone puts land into a conservation easement, STLC must plan to monitor it forever,” Shaw adds. “And a future board might have to defend it in court if, say, a neighbor started logging on it. It’s a legally complex, long-term commitment, and there’s a lot more to it than just owning land.”

STLC’s first acquisition was the Canawanna Nature Preserve in Owego, N.Y. — a patchwork of parcels near the confluence of the Susquehanna River and Owego Creek. Once a neighborhood, the area was devastated by the 2011 flood. The Owego Rotary Club had redeveloped the site for outdoor education, but when the land’s owner, Adam Weitsman, offered to donate the parcels, the club needed a partner. Fortunately, the STLC was able to step in.

“Canawanna came along at the right time. Even though the parcels we received from Weitsman were less than three acres in total, they fit into a seven-acre preserve that includes village-owned land,” Shaw says. “It was the perfect place to put everything we’d learned to the test.”

More recently, STLC is partnering with the Upper Susquehanna Coalition to protect nearly 118 acres near Lisle, N.Y., funded by a $334,917 grant from the Susquehanna River Basin Commission. The site features a flood-control pond that can hold 20 million gallons of water during storms, thereby reducing downstream flood risk and enhancing water quality. Plans include 19 more acres of wetland, a small parking area, and trails along the East Branch of Nanticoke Creek.

These projects reflect some of the most important aims of the STLC: joining fragmented preserves to create larger biodiversity corridors and maintaining balance between industry and nature. But these are just some of the many long-term impacts of the organization.

“One of our goals is to get people to learn how valuable open space is just being there by itself, and that there are impacts associated with agriculture or conservation, but they are minimal compared to the impacts of urban and suburban over-development,” Ryan says. “The more we can keep those landscapes active — it’s good for our farmers, our food sources, our water quality, our views and so much more.”