The Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy has earned national recognition as an accredited land trust from the Land Trust Accreditation Commission.
CWC Conservation Director Twan Leenders said the CWC has been working toward receiving this accreditation for a couple years, “Essentially it means that we’ve been recognized by LTA (Land Trust Alliance) as a nationally accredited land trust and that we adhere to the highest professional standards in administration, fundraising, ethics, all of those things . It’s really a huge seal of approval that we can put on our organization. And it really speaks to the quality of work we’re providing.”
The Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy owns and actively manages 35 nature preserves on more than 1,250 acres of land, protecting numerous wetlands and other sensitive habitats.
Leenders said the accreditation will help the organization with obtaining more funding in the future, especially since the Land Trust Alliance has a formal relationship with the State Department of Environmental Conservation, which is the department where grants for land acquisition go through, “By now being accredited, we’re actually eligible to apply for grant monies that were previously unavailable to us. So, it allows us to actually truly apply for grant money to acquire land. So, now that we have a methodology to identify the most important areas that we feel need protection or help, now we’re also positioned where we can start applying for big outside grants to bring to Chautauqua County to actually stabilize those areas and protect them.”
For more information on the Conservancy and accreditation, visit www.chautauquawatershed.org and the Land Trust Accreditation Commission website at www.landtrustaccreditation.org.
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