For Immediate Release — July 1, 2004

Mary E. McCrank

Media Relations Officer

(585) 245-5516

mccrank@geneseo.edu

GENESEO, N.Y. — The State University of New York at Geneseo Ecology Club has made a donation to the Genesee Valley Conservancy (GVC) to help the non-profit agency in its mission to keep the valley green and open.

Club members presented a $100 check to the conservancy May 5 at the agency’s Main Street office in Geneseo.

Club members raised money primarily through on-campus plant sales and opted to make the donation to the conservancy because of its mission to protect important open space resources, said Gregg Hartvigsen, faculty advisor and assistant professor of biology.

Michael Pagano and Elissa Pellegrino, who both graduated in May, served as co-presidents of the club last year.

GVC Executive Director Eric Grace said the donation will go toward the agency’s general operating budget to fund ongoing programs.

"Current GVC programs include the acquisition of property and conservation easements to protect the important open space resources of the Genesee Valley," Grace said. "General operating funds also go towards the stewardship of existing protected properties, including the creation of a management plan for a property recently acquired by GVC."

The GVC has been in operation since 1991. As of 2001, it had more than 7,000 acres in the Genesee Valley under its permanent protection.

The GVC, the college and local landowners have a unique arrangement that allows students and faculty use of a 400-acre reserve for educational and research activities. Known as "Wheeler’s Gully," the research reserve is approximately two miles north of the Geneseo campus, along Nations Road in the Town of Geneseo. The site is home to a wide variety of habitats, ranging from operational agricultural pastures to older growth forests. The reserve also contains a ravine with a waterfall, which is of particular interest to students and faculty in the college’s geological sciences department.

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