The Wetland Trust is a 501 (C) (3) nonprofit corporation organized in 2008. Our original impetus came from the Upper Susquehanna Coalition (www.u-s-c.org), an association of County Soil and Water Conservation Districts with an extensive wetland restoration program. The USC found that certain specialized wetland projects needed the services of a land steward partner. The idea of a land trust dedicated to the conservation of wetlands was thus formed. A core group of three USC biologists worked through the original incorporation process and were soon joined by two interested university professors creating the original Board of Directors.
At present the Trust will emphasize its work to support restoration partners including the USC. To this end we have developed a USC Wetland Endowment, which is dedicated to the restoration of wetlands in the Upper Susquehanna River Basin in NY and PA upstream of Towanda PA. This endowment is wholly funded by the USC. We hope to use this approach to endow restoration efforts in other regions and will pursue interested partners who may also want to initiate a similar approach. The TWT also has started a general endowment to help support its operations and provide a mechanism for long-term sustainability of our protection parcels.
At present the TWT can own property but not conservation easements and we are developing a strategy to own and protect key high quality wetland complexes. We are also developing our approach to perform the roll of land steward for parcels that are part of wetland mitigation projects. Soon we will provide another section on our website that describes the TWT's role in wetland mitigation.
Every wetland is of interest to us, but we have a special affinity for rarer wetland communities, and those that provide habitat to rare species. We also emphasize ephemeral wetlands and those smaller wetlands found in headwater and watershed divide areas. These wetlands are frequently overlooked in wetland protection legislation but provide excellent habitat to among other things, amphibians and reptiles, a group of wetland species of high interest to the wetland trust and our partners.
