Marisa Riggi's Conservation Celebration Speech: The Legacy we are Building Together
Updated: 4 days ago
Good evening, and welcome to our 3rd Annual Conservation Celebration! Before we begin, I want to thank tonight’s sponsors, who made this event possible:
Our Presenting Eagle Sponsors are West Herr and the Scott Bieler Family Foundation. We are deeply grateful for your longstanding commitment to conservation in Western New York. Thank you!
Tonight’s Owl Sponsors are Hodgson Russ and Kreher Family Farms.
Tonight’s Heron Sponsors are CC Environment & Planning, Linde, Maid of the Mist, Rich Products, and Root Down Farm.
Tonight’s Bluebird Sponsors are C&S Companies, CVM Electric, and Hapi Epie.
And tonight’s Wren Sponsors are Astronics LSI; Aurora Liquor; Daily’s Catering; The Dog Bar; Eastern Monarch Butterfly Farm; Elm Street Bakery; Holt Associates; LaBella Associates; Lessons from Nature; Martyn Printing & Graphics; Oxford Pennant; Ricotta, Mattrey (MAT-tree); and Tronconi Segarra & Associates.
Thank you to every one of our sponsors for investing in the future of Western New York. Please take a moment to learn more about them in your program.
Thank you to Farmcraft Brewery for hosting us at this beautiful site, and to tonight’s band, Tough Old Bird, for providing the wonderful music.
And to our talented, passionate, and hilarious staff and Board (please raise you hands). As the great Dolly Parton once said, “You gotta be a little bit crazy to do great things.” I think we’ve got that part covered, I am grateful to be a part of this team everyday.
And thank you all for being here. Your generosity and your belief in this work sustain us.
I want to acknowledge that we gather tonight on the traditional and ancestral lands of the Seneca, Tonawanda Seneca, and Tuscarora Nations and other Indigenous communities. We are grateful to the Haudenosaunee, who have been and continue to be stewards of this land.
Tonight is especially meaningful because we are celebrating the WNY Land Conservancy’s 35th anniversary.
Over thirty-five years ago, John Daleo, Ken Koehler, Henry Kreher, Lee Oprea, and John Whitney came together with a shared belief that some places are simply too important to lose. They believed that when people come together to protect the places they love, they can change the future of an entire region.
Some of our founders are here tonight. Founders, please raise your hands.
Thank you. What you started has grown into something remarkable. Today, we have permanently protected 96 properties and more than 8,500 acres across Western New York, including 23 publicly accessible nature preserves and 47 farms that will remain available for agriculture.
That is an extraordinary legacy. And we are not finished. We have set a goal of protecting another 10,000 acres over the next five years, more than doubling what we have protected to date.
The Bear Lake Preserve is one of the best examples of what that future can look like.
This year, we hope to protect more than 300 acres of remarkable wetlands, forests, and undeveloped shoreline at Bear Lake in Chautauqua County. Together with College Lodge and Floating Fen, and lands protected by our friends at Everwild Land Trust, Bear Lake will help create a connected landscape of 1,000 acres, providing 2.5 miles of safe passage for wildlife.
This is the WNY Wildway in action. The WNY Wildway is our vision for a connected landscape stretching from northern Pennsylvania through Western New York to the Great Lakes and beyond. A landscape where wildlife can move, ecosystems can adapt, and people can continue to experience the places that make this region special.
More than 70 organizations and individuals have already joined the Wildway Partner Network. This collaboration gives us the ability to think bigger and protect more than any one organization could do alone.
Tonight, we are also unveiling the new official logo of the WNY Wildway. If you'd like a Wildway sticker, please find one of our staff members!
There are enormous challenges ahead: climate change, farmland loss, pollution, biodiversity loss, and invasive species. It would be easy to feel overwhelmed.
But when I look around this room, I am hopeful.
Thirty-five years ago, five people imagined a different future for Western New York. While they didn’t know what that future would look like, they knew there were places worth protecting. And they took the first steps to make it possible.
Tonight, we have the privilege—and the responsibility—to take the next steps.
Because thirty-five years from now, someone will walk through a forest that is still standing because we protected it.
Someone will find a wetland that is still thriving because we kept it intact.
A farmer will still be growing food on land that could have been lost forever.
And somewhere, a child will step onto a trail, look out at this landscape, and discover the wonder of the natural world for the very first time. They will inherit the future we chose to protect. That is the legacy we are building together.
Thank you for being part of the first thirty-five years of this story. And most of all, thank you for helping us make sure the next thirty-five years are worth celebrating, too.
The crowd assembles at Farmcraft Brewery Butterfly release Board President Jim Clark Andrew Gaerte and Marisa Riggi honor Volunteer of the Year, Sam Hollasch Henry J. Kreher Conservationists of the Year, Anne and Bob Deming S'mores!
