Grants Received Through Iroquois' Community Grant Program

Tug Hill Tomorrow Land Trust has been awarded two Community Grants by the Iroquois Pipeline Operating Company (Iroquois). Since 1991, Iroquois has partnered with their pipeline host communities by providing unique funding programs helping to preserve the environmental heritage and increase passive recreational opportunities.

The first grant will be funding the replacement of fifteen (15) interpretive signs along the Trenton Greenbelt trail system. The Trenton Greenbelt is 2,000 acres of relatively undeveloped land east of Holland Patent and southwest of Barneveld, NY. The cross-country ski and hiking trails of the Trenton Greenbelt are an effort to provide free recreational and environmental opportunities close to home. The trail system is used everyday by local residents as well as visitors to the area.

The current interpretive signs were installed over 10 years ago and are extremely faded with water damage. The new interpretive signs, made possible through Iroquois’ Community Grant Program, will add to the recreational experience by increasing the awareness and appreciation of the Greenbelt and the diversity of ecosystems, plants and animals.

The second grant awarded to Tug Hill Tomorrow by the Iroquois Pipeline Operating Company will fund “Make Room for Wildlife: A Resource for Local Planners and Communities in the Tug Hill Region.” The brochure is an outreach tool that will be used in support of the Adirondack - Tug Hill Habitat Connectivity Project. The connectivity project is a partnership between Tug Hill Tomorrow, The Nature Conservancy, Adirondack Chapter, and the Wildlife Conservation Society. The project examines how the long-term viability of wide-ranging species inhabiting both Tug Hill and the Adirondacks will depend on maintaining the connectivity across the intervening Black River Valley, and discusses ways local partners can help to maintain and improve these areas.

The “Make Room for Wildlife” brochure will be an effective outreach tool, used to better communicate the information and importance of the connectivity project to town and government planning officials and land owners. Through Iroquois’ Community Grant Program, 2,000 copies of “Make Room for Wildlife: A Resource for Local Planners and Communities in the Tug Hill Region,” will be printed, and first available at the Annual Tug Hill Local Government Conference, to be held Thursday, April 1, 2010 at Jefferson Community College, Watertown, NY.