Board MembersTom Langen, President

Glenn Johnson, Vice President

Ken Hebb, Treasurer

Jess Rogers, Secretary

Wil RiversJohn Casserly Carol Cady Cathleen O’Horo Mark Lee Ray BowdishDakota CasserlyPeter D’Luhosch

The St. Lawrence Land Trust’s mission is to work with landowners to conserve the ecological, recreational, historical, and cultural values of their property, for benefit of the landowner and the community

2019 EventsFebruary 12: 5th Annual State of the Rivers Talk: Dr. Eileen Visser "North country rivers provide training grounds for Yukon River race"

April 27: Earth Day 7K Trail Run/Walk

April 27th: Hart’s Falls clean up

May 12th: Bird Walk

September: Hart’s Falls clean up Day

October: Tooley Pond Road/Grasse River Waterfall Walk

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www.stlawlandtrust.org

P.O. Box 684Canton, NY 13617

The St. Lawrence Land Trust 2018

Join us in 2019 (schedule to the left). Details for each event will be posted on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/StLawLandTrust/ If you, your community group, or your local government would like the SLLT to do an informative presentation on conservation easements, contact us.

The Land Trust was represented at a variety of events this past year, such as: The Associated Colleges of the St. Lawrence Valley Sustainability Day, area farmers’ markets, and other regional land trust events.

St. Lawrence Land Trust 2018 Highlights and AccomplishmentsImproving Access to the Hart’s Falls Preserve: The waterfall and surrounding property have grown in popularity. Picnic tables have been added, as have trail improvements including a boardwalk over the wettest section of trail. There is now a recreational kiosk at the trailhead. We have reduced trespass by motor vehicles, which in the past so damaged the site. We are using mowing to maintain the large meadow for monarch butterflies and grassland birds. Bluebird and kestrel nesting boxes have been installed. Please visit.Carbon Sequestration and Conservation Easements: The St. Lawrence Land Trust has partnered with Clarkson University and the Thousand Islands Land Trust to investigate the use of conservation easements as a way for colleges and universities to meet their goals to reduce and offset climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions. Protecting Land: The St. Lawrence Land Trust is working with three landowners to establish new conservation easements on Brandy Brook, the Little River, and Portaferry Lake. These easements will protect important riparian forest, lakeshore, and headwater wetlands. Raising Community Awareness on Conservation: This year has been full of fun and educational activities to inform our community about conservation practices and environmental stewardship challenges. Highlights include the ‘State of the Rivers’ talk by US Fish & Wildlife Biologist Scott Schlueter, a well-attended Spring bird walk, a water quality survey with Nature Up North, and Tooley Pond Waterfall ramble with Adirondack naturalist Peter O’Shea.Building Our Organizational Capacity: There are serious legal and financial issues involved in land conservation, and it can be a real challenge to deal with these issues for a small, all-volunteer organization. We continue to work toward accreditation from the national, independent Land Trust Accreditation Commission. This is a rigorous accreditation process that mandates strong policies and practices on record-keeping, financial management, ethical standards, and stewardship of easements. The Land Trust Alliance and our neighboring land trusts are helping us with this aspect of growing our organization’s capacity.

St. Lawrence Land Trust 2019 Priorities and Goals:

● Complete a paved parking area at Hart’s Falls Preserve, and implement other conservation and public access improvements at the preserve.

● Establish three conservation easements.● Make progress on one new easement in partnership with a landowner and Clarkson

University.● Conduct special events each season that focus on the environmental and cultural benefits

of our rivers and streams. ● Recruit and train a team of interns to work on conservation outreach, conservation

improvements at Hart’s Falls and our conservation easements, and help with preparing for accreditation.

● Do final work on preparing all documentation for accreditation, with the intention of filing by 2020.

Support the St. Lawrence Land Trust and Become a Friend of the WatershedBy contributing to the Land Trust you will help us insure the preservation of the St. Lawrence Valley’s treasured natural resources its irreplaceable waterways, wildlife habitats, working farms, public recreation areas, and superb quality of

Name: _____________________________________ Date: ___________ Enclosed is my tax-deductible contribution of ☐$25 ☐$50 ☐$75 ☐$100 ☐other $ made out to the St. Lawrence Land Trust.

☐Yes, please contact me about volunteering for the organization. *Detach and mail with your contribution*

Summer 2018 Intern ThoughtsKatie Adee - (SLU PIC)During my time with the St. Lawrence Land Trust, I gained invaluable experience not only working with a non-profit conservation organization, but also learning more about the place where I have spent the last three years. I was able to see first hand what it takes for a conservation organization to be successful, and just how important it is to interact and connect with community members.

Dan BellingerThe work that I was able to accomplish during my internship with the St. Lawrence Land Trust was easily some of the most meaningful that I’ve done all year. I was able to not only put my Environmental Science & Policy education to work on issues and areas that mattered to my North Country neighbors, but also build on that education through valuable experiences with local experts and professionals in all of the different fields that tie in to our important work.

Randy Monica Jr.Over the summer, I worked on a number of widely different projects like trail clearing, website updating, tabling at the farmer’s market, creating a GIS map, and even setting up a kiosk. While working on these projects I gained many skills and experiences I had not originally expected. For one, I liked being able to see how my different skills, specifically those in computing, were able to relate to a position where one would not expect those specific skills to be helpful. I learned that it can be valuable to have a wide skill set, even if those skills seem unrelated.

Tucker CatanzaroI am incredibly grateful for the opportunity the St. Lawrence Land Trust gave me this past summer. by far, for me the most rewarding part of the internship this past summer was being able to interact with members of the public and spread the land trust’s goals and mission. I saw how important outreach in the community is if we want the land trust to be able to thrive and continue with its important mission. People were eager to learn more or join once we began describing what the land trust does and it truly illustrated how much people in the North Country truly do want to conserve our natural resources.

We would like to thank the following organizations, businesses and individuals who helped us to accomplish all that we did this year.

Grasse River Heritage, Commercial Press, Nature Up North, St. Lawrence University SLU PIC Internships, Town and Highway Dept. of Russell, Pyrites VFD, Eileen Visser, Jeffrey Schleuter, Bill Brown, Peter O’Shea, Ann Heidenreich and Eric and Ana Williams-Bergen. We would also like to thank Land Trust Alliance for all its support, St. Lawrence River Research & Education Fund and NYS DEC Region 6.