TI Land Trust to protect regional water quality with nearly 1,000 acre land acquisition

CLAYTON, N.Y. (WWTI) – The Thousand Islands Land Trust is acquiring nearly 1,000 acres in Jefferson County to help in protecting the area’s water quality.

The deal was announced as New York Governor Kathy Hochul visited the area to take care of a number of things. A total of  17 projects will be focused on protecting the region’s drinking water sources.

The partnership, supported with more than $5.8 million in State grants through the successful Water Quality Improvement Project Program, will have lasting impacts on the water quality and habitats of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario. Governor Hochul signed the agreement today while visiting the North Country.

Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence River and their tributaries provide drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people across countless municipalities in the US and Canada. As shoreline development and habitat degradation continues at a record pace, these widely used surface water sources are becoming more susceptible to water contamination. To safeguard these waterbodies and the communities that rely on them, the Thousand Island Land Trust and its conservation partners have turned to New York State’s WQIP program to conserve some of the region’s last remaining and most sensitive riparian habitats.

Thousand Islands Land Trust Executive Director Jake Tibbles

The Thousand Islands Land Trust received grants from 2017 through 2021 from Department of Environmental Conservation’s Water Quality Improvement Project program to help acquire 988 acres in Jefferson County.

This will protect two drinking water sources in the region, the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario, that serve as a drinking water supply for a number of communities in the Thousand Islands region. The 988 acres consist of a mix of conservation easement and outright purchase of lands acting as great natural buffers for potential pollutants that could enter waterbodies through events such as stormwater runoff.

In May, the state announced nearly $300 million in climate resiliency funding available that included at least $215 million for WQIP projects funded through the State Environmental Protection Fund, Clean Water Infrastructure Act, and the Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022, combined. Applications were accepted through July and DEC is reviewing submissions.

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