Conserving forest and wetland sites like this one at the Browns Creek Tributary Forest Preserve help keep nutrients and sediments from fueling algae and plant growth in our lakes. Photo by Becky Nystrom

The New York State 30×30 amendments to the Environmental Conservation Law adopted in 2022 set the goal of conserving 30% of lands and waters across the State by 2030, “to enhance conservation of the state’s unique and globally significant biodiversity and continue efforts to adapt to climate change.” This State initiative is in line with United Nations global biodiversity goals and the U.S. goal to conserve 30% of all lands and waters by 2030 to confront the global mass extinction crisis and costly natural disaster impacts of climate change.

The Chautauqua region has long been a great place to live or visit for outdoors enthusiasts. Its waterways and forests provided abundant fish and wildlife supporting Native American populations for thousands of years before Europeans immigrated to this region and cleared the immense forests of the region for agriculture. Our forests historically supplied timber for a robust furniture industry and continue to provide valuable wood products. In modern times, our lakes, streams, State Forests, State Parks, nature preserves, and trails provide numerous opportunities for the public to enjoy hiking, mountain biking, birdwatching, paddling, boating, hunting, fishing, and other outdoor activities. Privately-owned fields, wetlands, streams, and forests provide many outdoor recreational opportunities for landowners and others with permission to use those lands. Our waters are the treasure of our region and the envy of much of the rest of the world. Multiple trail upgrade projects championed by the Friends of Chautauqua County Greenways and its member groups are enhancing and opening mountain biking, horseback riding, hiking, and paddling opportunities on trails and waterways across the County. Meanwhile, farming continues to be an important part of our local economy.

The “high level objectives” of the State 30×30 legislation are: “conserving lands prioritized through the NYS Open Space Conservation Plan; providing protections for water resources, sole source aquifers, and watersheds; preserving biodiversity through habitat conservation and restoration and means for wildlife migration, with a focus on threatened and endangered species; expanding public access to nature and the outdoors; including considerations of urban, suburban and rural natural areas, wetlands and forests; protecting food sources through farmland conservation; and increasing climate resilience, including reducing risk from extreme weather events, cooling urban landscapes to advance the state’s Extreme Heat Action Plan and the prevention of erosion and flooding.”

The Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy is a land trust organization that owns and manages 1,251 acres of land at 35 nature preserves. Through its Collaborative Regional Conservation Implementation Strategy (CRCIS), it has identified sites for conservation across the County that it believes best deliver many of the habitat, climate, and water resources protection objectives of the State 30×30 program. Many of the landscapes the Conservancy has prioritized for conservation are those which provide protection of the streams and wetlands most important to delivering clean waters to our lakes. Keeping as much of each lake tributary watershed in forest and wetland as possible is essential for maintaining water quality, controlling flooding, slowing erosion and sedimentation, maintaining summer lake water levels, and minimizing excessive plant and algae growth in our lakes. Research indicates that maintaining watersheds in at least 75%-85% forest helps minimize degradation of stream and lake conditions.

The Conservancy seeks to work with owners of wetlands, stream corridors, fields, and forests to conserve as many acres as possible of these ecologically and hydrologically valuable sites. The Conservancy, working with willing landowners, governments, and organizational partners will pursue funding through one of the many State programs available to implement State 30×30 goals. These may include the Forest Conservation Easements for Land Trusts Program (which provides matching grants for land trusts to purchase conservation easements on private lands), the Land Acquisition for Source Water Protection Program (which funds governments and land trusts to buy land or easements to protect water quality), and/or Resilient Watersheds Implementation Grants (to prevent flooding during extreme weather events).

The NYSDEC will be accepting written comments by e-mail on the NYS 30×30 Draft Strategies and Methodology at 30×30@dec.ny.gov until August 30th. Learn more at https://dec.ny.gov/nature/open-space/30×30.

To learn more about potential options for conserving your land, visit www.chautauquawatershed.org/land-conservation-options. If you are a landowner with 50 or more acres of forest or wetlands, or have land with significant stream length or creek or lake frontage, and would like to explore options to sell, donate, or conserve your land, email the Conservancy at info@chautauquawatershed.org or call 716-664-2166, ext. 1003.

Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy is a not-for-profit organization with the mission to preserve and enhance the quality, scenic beauty, and ecological health of the Chautauqua region’s lands and waters for our community. For more info, visit our website and follow us on Facebook and Instagram.