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About
About the Southern Tier Land Conservancy
The Southern Tier Land Conservancy is a 501(c)3 charitable non-profit organization founded to address a critical gap in land conservation in New York’s Southern Tier. In late 2019, Binghamton University Professor Carl Lipo, environmental professional Jeff Merrill, and local business owner and county legislator Jason Shaw observed that the region had significantly less protected land than other New York areas.
Their concerns were validated through conversations with the Waterman Conservation and Education Center, Cornell Cooperative Extension, EL Rose Land Trust, Chenango Land Trust, Finger Lakes Land Trust, Broome County Parks, and Broome County Planning, as well as the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. These discussions underscored the pressing need for a locally-based organization dedicated to conservation in the Southern Tier.
The founders then approached the Land Trust Alliance, a national nonprofit that empowers and mobilizes land trusts to conserve land and connect people to land. Although the Alliance advises against creating new land trusts, they recognize the Southern Tier’s unique under-served status. They endorsed the establishment of a new organization to conserve the region's lands and waters.
The Southern Tier Land Conservancy is building on the legacy of Binghamton University Professor Emeritus Julian Shepherd, who spent decades creating a natural areas inventory of Broome County and beyond. With Dr. Shepherd's permission, we made a GIS version of his inventory to inform our conservation priorities.
In addition to its IRS 501c3 status, the Southern Tier Land Conservancy is registered with the New York State Charities Bureau.
Where We Work
The Southern Tier region of Upstate NY is generally defined as the counties along the Pennsylvania border from Broome County west to Chautauqua County. Though we may expand our service in the future, our initial focus is on Broome and Tioga counties, where the need for conservation is greatest.
Broome and Tioga Counties are home to various natural lands, working lands, parks, trails, and waterways that are at the heart of what it means to live in the Southern Tier. Less land is protected from development or open for public access in these counties than in the rest of the region. The Southern Tier Land Conservancy aims to work with community partners to address this deficit and protect the Southern Tier’s (or Broome and Tioga Counties’) critical open spaces for generations to come.
Our Story
Our Story
Founded in 2020, the Southern Tier Land Conservancy (STLC) focuses on land conservation and protecting biologically critical natural areas in New York’s Broome County. The inspiration for the land conservancy came from a 2020 Conservation Summit meeting that we initiated for local organizations, which led to widespread recognition that Broome County has relatively little conservation activity compared to neighboring regions. Broome County, however, possesses biologically important and aesthetically rich natural areas. To address this gap, the STLC has prioritized natural areas for land conservation using the Broome County Natural Areas inventory developed by local biologist and Binghamton University professor Dr. Julian Shepherd.
In addition to working with Dr. Shepherd to identify priority natural areas, the STLC will collaborate with local organizations to identify common goals and coordinate conservation efforts. These groups include Broome County, the Land Trust Alliance, Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Waterman Conservation Center, the EL Rose Conservancy, Chenango Land Trust, the Broome County Soil and Water Conservation District, Binghamton University, and the Upper Susquehanna Coalition.
Our founders come to the table with years of experience in natural resource management and conservation, research, and education as well as small business management and public service. The Broome County Natural Areas Inventory provides an invaluable starting point for our efforts.
The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of the community to include soils, waters, plants, and animals, or collectively: the land... In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members, and also respect for the community as such.
-- Aldo Leopold
The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope.
-- Wendell Berry
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