Sometimes, it can be extremely easy to fall back under the immediate needs of our attention – classes, assignments, our grades, and our friends. We are so caught up in our daily lives that we forget to take a look around our surroundings. We forget to realize that we are living in a unique landscape, with beautiful scenery and historic background. We forget Ithaca and all that it has to offer.

This talk was about the importance of keeping Ithaca’s nature alive, the need to protect its land. As disappointing as it is, the fact is that while we are studying in Ithaca, there are people fighting to preserve its natural landmarks. This is precisely what Andy Zepp, an ILR alumni from Cornell dedicates his time to. He is the Executive Director of Finger Lakes Land Trust, an organization dedicated to the preservation of natural bodies of water, land, and gorges here in Ithaca. This organization allows for owners of historic/scenic land to provide security of that land and to maintain it for future generations to enjoy the land. I had no idea that Ithaca is the home to the greatest number of waterfalls within a 10-mile radius in all of North America. This is something worth fighting for and protecting. Another land that is part of the Finger Lakes Land Trust is the Finger Lakes trails that extends thousands of miles, almost passing through the city and going through the hill country. Not only was this a beautiful trail with the quintessential wildlife that characterizes upstate New York, but it is also a place where I would like to visit during my time at Cornell.

This talk was very valuable to me because little did I know about the conservation efforts that are presently occurring. I consider myself someone who is passionate about preserving our nature, as I do much research on how regulation and new laws can affect our environment, such as the passing of the Keystone Pipeline XL. I admire Andy on his efforts, and I think that attending this event has opened my eyes to the importance of taking an active part in my own community to help preserve the nature that is exposed to risk.

The concept of people owning land is pretty weird to me. Not like the land where your house is built or something, but an entire forest, for example. It’s just kind of a shame that society developed into a system where literally everything is a commodity, from animals to trees. I completely understand the need to buy land for conservation, but it’s pretty depressing that this is necessary. If all land was free and open to the public then there would definitely be people destroying it for their own selfish purposes. Which sucks! I honestly can’t comprehend how some people can be so selfish as to destroy beautiful nature. 🙁 If some people weren’t so dumb then we could definitely have a system in which all of nature could be free for everyone to enjoy. People need to stop looking at a tract of land and imagining how they could build a supermarket on it; instead, they should look outside of their own selfish bubble and truly appreciate the beauty of nature and the creatures that live in it.

Andy Zepp’s presentation was very engaging and I really admire the work that the Finger Lakes Land Trust is doing to preserve beautiful Ithaca. This location was a pretty big reason why I chose to go to Cornell. However, I just wish the FLLT wasn’t necessary. It’s slightly depressing to see nature being bought and sold like a car or a house. But unfortunately, you can’t change the human race’s selfish nature!

Last Wednesday I attended the final Rose Cafe of the year and heard Andy Zepp speak from the Finger Lakes Land Trust. I think it is oftentimes easy to forget that we are going to school in a really incredible place. Ithaca is beautiful and we have access to gorges, waterfalls, and the Finger Lakes. I grew up in Rochester, NY so I have always known that the Finger Lakes existed and are a huge feature of New York. However I didn’t realize how difficult it is to maintain the land around the Finger Lakes and this is what Andy Zepp and his team at the Trust do. The Trust will purchase large areas of land around the Finger Lakes and help preserve the area (like maintaining hiking trails) so that people can enjoy the area when they visit. I was surprised to hear though that the Trust makes these purchases from donations that they get from private donors and their fundraising efforts. He also spoke about maintaining a balance between enjoying the land and using it recreationally, and then also using the land for farming for example.

Overall I am glad that I attended this final Rose Cafe, especially since this was a topic that I was not expecting to hear about but I found it really interesting. It was almost embarrassing to realize how little I knew about the amazing area that we live in, but I am glad that I was able to learn about it now.

The nature of land trusts is interesting in itself– when you are in the depths of nature here, among deciduous forests and gorges, you rarely ever associate what you’re seeing with business. Yet, as we discovered last Wednesday, nature and the land itself is indeed closely tied to business. Andy Zepp told us about the amount of work put into negotiating with land owners and maintaining the land itself in order to preserve the nature around us in Ithaca–a great deal, in fact. So next time you hike the trails and gorges here in Ithaca, don’t just appreciate the beauty of the nature, appreciate the business behind it as well.

During the last Cafe, Andy Zepp, the executive director of the Finger Lakes Land Trust and a Cornell grad came to speak to us about his job managing the land trust. Land trusts, nature protection, and environmental sustainability were all fields I never had an exposure to before Cornell, as I lived in NYC my entire life. The purpose of the FLLT is to conserve the land, since the US doesn’t have as much land regulation as European countries. Zepp described the job as a balance between conservation and economic development. They negotiate with property owners about their land, and they help oversee it so that no detrimental developments occur, and ensure that people who make bad decisions can’t exploit the land. It’s a delicate balance to strike between micromanaging and safeguarding the land. Zepp also described various other projects the FLLT tries to implement, like creating a world class system of trails across, maintaining agriculture, and keeping the land clean.  My first impression was wonder about how this small nonprofit could overlook all these acres of land surrounding Ithaca, and how they are able to negotiate with so many people to ensure productive conservation. It’s a massive job and Zepp just seemed to talk about his work so matter-of-factly. I know little to nothing about conservation, land trusts, and sustainability, so just hearing about all these efforts was remarkable. It’s really interesting how so many people developed a passion for land conservation, and after living in Ithaca, I can see why.

Andy Zepp from the Finger Lakes Land Trust came to talk at the final Rose Café of the year. In this talk, he spoke about what he does around the Finger Lakes Area. Although I was only able to stay halfway through, I admire what he does and how he helps the Finger Lakes stay in the best shape possible. I found his talk very interesting for the main reason that he developed a love for nature once getting to Ithaca. I can completely relate to this. Before coming to Ithaca, I didn’t do much outdoors. I would go for runs, but never really appreciate what is all around me. Since coming to Ithaca, this has completely changed. A day does not go by without me realizing how beautiful of a place we live in and how lucky we are. When I can, I enjoy getting off campus and finding some of these beautiful places we are so lucky to have. Because of this, what Andy and the Land Trust does is so important. They work to protect this area and all aspects of it. Without Andy and his team, many of the places we get to hike through would not be accessible to us or might even be destroyed in later years. The Finger Lakes trail is an absolutely beautiful place to spend some time. Having so many beautiful places so close to Cornell makes it standout from other college campuses and makes Ithaca such a special and important place.

This past Wednesday, I attended the Rose Scholars Cafe with guest speaker Andy Zepp. Andy Zepp is the director of the Finger Lakes Land Trust here in Ithaca. The focus of his talk was about the Finger Lakes Land Trust and the purpose of conserving land.

I found this Cafe to be very interesting. More specifically, I really enjoyed how Andy gave us an inside view of how the Finger Lakes Land Trust is run. I did not know that most of their funding came from fund raising. With all of the land that they own, their fund raising has to be extremely successful. Andy talked about his philosophy when it comes to fund raising and that is that you will not be successful just going door to door, asking strangers for money. In order to fund raise effectively, you have to cultivate a relationship with donors over a long period of time. I think that this philosophy can be applied to any situation that requires one to receive help from others.

Overall, I enjoyed this Rose Cafe. I liked listening to how why it is important to conserve land and how this conserved land is used. Without the many workers and volunteers at the Finger Lakes Land Trust, Ithaca may not be the same, beautiful place it is today.

For the last Becker-Rose Café of the semester, Andy Zepp from the Finger Lakes Land Trust came to share his experiences about his occupation and the current stance of his group, which has acquired around 50,000 acres of public land. In an attempt to preserve these natural areas, the Finger Lakes Land Trust buys portions of a large piece of land as they open up. However, Mr. Zepp informed us that the funding for these purchases are often from private donations from around a 2,500 member base. He emphasized the value of preserving these lands, which not only serve as land marks, but also as trails for people to hike, relax, and admire nature. In fact, the Finger Lakes Land Trust has been working on installing conveniences such as ramps to make sight-seeing easier for any tourists that come across these forests. Overall, it was an interesting talk to end the semester and to learn how much effort people put in to preserve little of what we have left of natural sites such as forests and trails.

This week’s talk on the Finger Lakes Land Trust, led by one of our own, Andy Zepp, B.A. ILR ’85 and M.P.S. Natural Resources ’89, was incredible educational on the topic of Upstate New York sustainability and the methods by which the gorges land is preserved.

Andy Zepp is the executive director of the Finger Lake Land Trust and manages an enormous network of preserved land, countless selfless volunteers, and a small group of employees working towards sustaining the land that make Upstate New York. Going into the talk with little prior knowledge about how land is sustained in America, I learned a lot about land trusts and the way they function. It surprised me the most that land trusts are not government mandated and that often times, land trusts are formed piece by piece, only a little segment of land at at time, most commonly through deals with the current owners to preserve their land and promise to sell to the land trust when they are ready to sell.

What amazed me most was where the land trust gets their funding from to purchase such large chunks of land. They get most of their funding from their 1000 organization members. I did not know that local citizens would be so passionate about conserving the land and I am certainly grateful that they are!

This week’s discussion was on land conservation in the Ithaca and in upstate regions of New York. Ithaca has really beautiful scenic landscapes that are invaluable to the area. I think I take these for granted sometimes because I assume that they will always be there when I want to go visit, however a lot of work goes into making sure these unique lands are preserved. It is so easy to alter something such as land, someone builds an apartment complex and cuts down a large portion of the trees to make a parking lot or puts a pool and a playground in a community center. Once all of these changes have been made, which may take a few months to build, the characteristics of that land will be altered forever. The gorges, waterfalls, and mountains took years to develop yet they can be ruined overnight if we do not take care of them. I think the biggest takeaway from this lecture is that we can not get back the land once we have destroyed it so the best way is to preserve the marvels that we have so that we can ensure their continuity. Personally, my favorite landscapes are beaches and rough waterfalls that have a powerful presence reminding us that nature is beautiful and unable to be replicated. I hope that conservationists continue to secure the future of unique lands throughout New York, but also throughout the world because there are places all over the globe that have unique ecosystems and wildlife that may be endangered if the land on which they live on is altered or destroyed. This will require collaboration across multiple countries and governments, however I think it is something that is worth doing. As humans we are responsible for changing most of the land on Earth therefore it is also our responsibility to preserve some of the land that is irreplaceable.

For the last Rose Cafe of the year, Andy Zepp, the Director of the Finger Lakes Land Trust, came to talk about his organization that aims to buy and protect natural areas. The process of protecting land is quite different in each case. In general, Zepp and his team will approach the owner of the land and attempt to buy it or trade it. Sometimes the original owner retains some rights to the land after the transaction. In every case, the purpose isn’t to preserve the land and keep it stagnant, but rather to protect beautiful natural areas from excessive logging or degradation. Farming practices continue to evolve, and so does land use and urbanization. Zepp admits these can’t and shouldn’t be halted, but a sustainable and mutually beneficial solution for both the land owner and the natural area can be found.

It was interesting to learn about the slow and deliberate method of buying small parcels of land and putting them together over time to protect a more complete area. It was also fascinating to see how land use changed over such a short amount of time, and how this impacts the environment greatly. For instance, Zepp showed a sequence of images of the same cluster of houses and farms dating back over a hundred years. In the early photograph, the steep, hilly slope in the background was used for grazing sheep, which led to a lot of erosion. In the next, several years later, the hill was overgrown with a forest. Zepp also talked about the importance of conserving old growth forests, as these are the rarest kind in Tompkins county. As I went on a tour of the Fisher Old-Growth Forest just a few weeks ago, I could connect with what he was saying about the value of these untouched ecosystems.

I found this talk to be enjoyable and informative. I didn’t know that something like the Land Trust existed, but it makes sense to protect the abundance of beautiful natural areas in this region, as some environmental laws aren’t always enforced and some land owners might not know what is best for conserving their land.

The final Rose Café for the 2015-2016 academic year was about the Finger Lakes Land Trust. I found it very interesting to learn about how local lands are being preserved. I think the Finger Lakes Land Trust mission is particularly important because this region has natural beauty that should be preserved. Also, it is encouraging that the land trust is active currently even though there is ample open space around Ithaca.

During the talk I was thinking about a previous Rose Scholars event in which the city planner for Ithaca spoke. Looking back, I am surprised that the city government official did not discuss preserving open space in the community. Luckily, private organizations such as the Finger Lakes Land Trust are taking the lead.

I was also surprised to learn that the Finger Lakes Land Trust allows land owners to harvest lumber from the protected lands. I had always though of preserved lands just being left to nature. I guess allowing lumber harvesting makes it easier for the land trust to persuade owners to protect their land from development.

It was encouraging to hear that most of the donors are individual citizens. I think this shows that people in the area recognize the need to protect natural lands from development. This is great news for the local environment and for people like me who enjoy exploring the regions natural beauty.

This talk was a good way to end the year of Rose Cafés. I’m looking forward to next year’s speakers.

As my last Rose Scholar’s event for the year, I chose to attend the Cafe series with Andy Zepp from the Finger Lakes Land Trust. He had a lot of fun facts to share with the group, and I was very excited to hear what he had to say. For one, there are 50,000 acres of public land surrounding Ithaca and 35 Tompkins County unique natural areas. Thousands of these acres, according to Mr. Zepp, are productive and agricultural timberland, a fact I found quite surprising.

Additionally, there are apparently more than 140 miles of recreational trails, including 78 miles of the Finger Lakes Trail, which runs all the way from Lake Eerie. Mr. Zepp also showed us several pictures of many gorgeous waterfalls in the surrounding area, and that made me that much more excited to stay in Ithaca this summer, something I was actually dreading as recently as a few weeks ago.

Also, learning some of the interesting new facts about the very town that we live in also got me excited for my summer position as a tour guide/information specialist; having fun tidbits of information to share with prospective students, their families, and individuals visiting campus will make walking around backwards, talking for hours all summer a little more fun. 🙂

Last Wednesday I had the pleasure of attending the talk given by wildlife conservationist and Cornell ILR graduate, Andy Zepp. As someone who appreciates nature, but dislikes government intervention in economic activity, I found it really interesting to learn about the Finger Lakes Land Trust that Mr. Zepp works for. It not only acquires its land through buying it in the market, but gets its funding solely through private donations, which I thought was a great method of promoting conservancy. Furthermore, it was great to hear how the land trust also interacted with local land owners and made agreements with farmers about growing crops in a sustainable way and a way that did its best to accommodate wildlife. Despite all the progress Mr. Zepp told us about, he said that it is still difficult to bring ecosystems back to their historical conditions because of different agricultural practices and invasive species that have come into New York. One example I particularly remember was his comment that upstate New York actually used to have a fair amount of grasslands and that it was only in the past 75 years that much of the forests grew in, which was something that was pretty surprising to me. Overall I was glad to have had the chance to hear from someone who is doing such great work for the environment and I hope he and his organization to continue to have more success.

This week’s Rose Café featured Andy Zepp, an ILR grad and an Executive Director of the Finger Lakes Land Trust, which protects thousands of acres of land around the Finger Lakes. Most students are often stuck on Cornell’s campus and don’t recognize the beauty of Ithaca. I remember coming to Cornell and planning on going on all these nature walks and seeing all the gorges. We traveled down to Six Mile Creek and went to Buttermilk Falls but once the schoolwork started to pick up it was hard to find the time to go.

One interesting fact I learned was that there are a lot of forests used for growing hardwoods like cherry, maple, and oak. There are some sawmills around who actually ship wood all off the world. I really think this demonstrates a disconnect people have with nature nowadays. It’s easy to just sit on your laptop and watch Netflix all day and then think you have no time to spend outside with friends. Ithaca and the surrounding areas have so much to offer but yet students are secluded on campus. Instead, we spend our time at CTB, libraries and classrooms. We don’t really appreciate the location as much as we should. I think that it would be beneficial for students to get out more and visit the different Finger Lakes and gorges. Students would really appreciate Ithaca more instead of viewing it as a cold and dreary plac