Thirty years ago a small group of dedicated individuals with a shared interest in conservation and environmental preservation came together to form the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy, which celebrated the special anniversary at its annual meeting on Thursday.

Joined by guest speaker Erik Kulleseid, commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks and Recreation and Historic Preservation, Conservancy staff took the opportunity to look back on all of the projects completed and success achieved since its inception.

“I give you all incredible credit,” Kulleseid said. “You look at what you have done, and it is an amazing 30-year record of accomplishment. The work that the Conservancy has done is both exhausting and inspiring. I think we all know in this group that there is no room for exhaustion. It is only the tireless work that we do that makes the conservation happen.”

Following an introduction by Board President Becky Nystrom, Executive Director John Jablonski led a presentation following the chronology of the organization and its projects.

In 1995 the Conservancy founded its first two preserves, the Dobbins Woods and Elm Flats Wetland and another on a 100-acre section of forrest on Bly Hill, following early seed funding by the Gebbie Foundation.

In 1997 the Prendergast Creek Wetland Preserve was added, with additional preserves including 83 acres of the Chautauqua Lake outlet, 150 acres of the Cassadaga Creek Wetland in 1999, 30 acres of Goose Creek in 2011, the Wells Bay Lakeshore Forest in 2012, and the Bentley Sanctuary in 2016.

Today the Conservancy operates 31 preserves on over 1,000 acres.

“There is an underlying premise that drives most of what the conservancy does,” Jablonski said. “That is that land use and land cover drives water quality. We know from research that has been done that in order to deliver clean water for drinking and for recreation, for clean streams and clean lakes, we need to keep a minimum of 70% of our watersheds in forrest.”

In 30 years $9.5 million in state investment has been leveraged by conservancy donors, and 23 sites accounting for 510 acres have been donated.

“I would like to thank our members and donors. We have had over 3,000 families and individuals, donors and businesses over the last 30 years contribute to the organization,” Jablonski said.

Looking forward, conservancy staff outlined a number of programs that will continue to help its cause, including shoreline preservation efforts, watershed education such as the homeowners guide to lake friendly living, technical assistance to towns and villages for stormwater projects, and the creation of a county-wide conservancy strategy.

“We want to conserve those habitats which are most valuable and sensitive across the region,” Jablonski said. “We hope to restore as much forest and wetland acreage as possible to absorb and filter heavy precipitation and storm events to prevent erosion, sedimentation and nutrient pollution.”

Vice President Craig Seger announced that conservancy preserves have seen a large influx of visitors during COVID-19, while Treasurer Robert Wooler stated that the conservancy is in good financial health, although the financial impacts of the pandemic are likely to impact state and private funding for a wide range of non profit organizations.

In his keynote address, Kulleseid briefed those in attendance on the great progress that has been made within the parks department in the last ten years.

The New York State Parks system is first in number of campsites and facilities in the country, and second in terms of overall visitation. It operates 5,000 buildings and 9,000 campsites on 350,000 acres, attracting 77 million visitors a year.

Since 2011, the parks system has completed 900 projects and invested $1 billion, primarily focusing on repairs to aging infrastructure.

Since 2015 there has been $25 million of capital investment in the Allegany Region, including major projects at Long Point State Park and Midway State Park. Looking back on his early involvement with the Conservancy, Kulleseid recalled the preservation of the Cheney Farm as an important benchmark.

“I feel like that was a catalytic project,” he said. “A project that is near and dear to my heart, which was the acquisition of that first piece of the Cheney farm. It helped you get moved down the road, helped you gain momentum.”

The Conservancy also elected directors Nan Doolittle, Chris Flanders, Cheryl Mawhinney, Richard Morrisroe, Lisa Schmidtfrerick-Miller, Greg Swan and Ruth Wahl.