-For Immediate Release-

Genesee Land Trust Awarded Norcross Wildlife Foundation Grant

Genesee Land Trust, a not-for-profit land conservation organization, has been given a Norcross Wildlife Foundation grant in the amount of $3,000 to supplement upgrades to its 500 East Avenue office. This was the Trust’s first application to Norcross, a by-product of the Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary located in Massachusetts.

Arthur Norcross, who was founder and manager of the Norcross Greeting Card Company in New York, created a wildlife sanctuary 1939 on what was his childhood “stomping-grounds” – the family’s 100 acre woodlot/pasture in Massachusetts. Over the years he gathered additional parcels, wetlands and farmlands, with the goal that they be,” a place of refuge where all wildlife is encouraged not just to survive but also to proliferate naturally, and where certain species, now threatened with extinction, may again attain more normal distribution and benefit the public by their survival.” In 1965 the Norcross Wildlife Foundation was established to “… ensure the integrity of the Sanctuary in perpetuity.”

The Norcross Wildlife Foundation does not consider large grant requests from national non-profits but rather considers its primary constituency to be small grass roots organizations with “hands-on” needs, where a “useful tool” standard could be applied. “Mr. Norcross wanted his support to go to organizations that would, literally, put his money to work with measurable results.”

Genesee Land Trust, Rochester’s, “local land trust” was founded in 1989 by Rochesterians. Currently the Trust protects over 2000 acres in Greater Rochester including Braddock Bay Bird Observatory, Island Cottage Woods, and the Hipp Brook Preserve, among others. Additionally, hundreds of acres are protected by conservation easements. Genesee Land Trust was instrumental in the saving of Corbett’s Glen as a nature park for the Town of Brighton. Gay Mills serves as executive director.

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Contact:
Margaret Potter
Assistant Director
Genesee Land Trust
500 East Avenue, Suite 200
Rochester NY 14607
(585) 256-2130
fax: (585) 271-4292
info@geneseelandtrust.org