The Southern Madison Heritage Trust was founded in 1999 and is based in Hamilton, New York. Its mission is "to conserve, for public benefit, the natural resources in and around the townships of Brookfield, Eaton, Georgetown, Hamilton, Lebanon, and Madison in Madison County, New York. These resources shall include land, water, unique habitats, scenic landscapes, recreational sites, and historic features. [We] will conserve such resources through land stewardship, public education, and support of practices and policies that advance natural resource conservation."
To date, the land trust has completed two land acquisition projects including one conservation easement. SMHT was looking to focus their conservation efforts on projects that best match their mission as well as have the highest resource value. The charge of this workshop was to draft a Strategic Land Protection Plan for the land trust to help focus their land protection efforts. Deliverables from the workshop included an 80-page color report, a 50-slide powerpoint show, a poster, and GIS coverages. The following maps represent a modest sample of work by the Cornell students over the fall semester and are proposals for the consideration of the board of SMHT.
