Leadership Tioga: Preserving the County’s Resources

Waterman Conservation Education Center was the perfect meeting place for this month’s Leadership Tioga class, hosted by the Tioga County Chamber of Commerce. Surrounded by birds of all kinds and by Ted the Tortoise and Toby the Bearded Dragon, participants learned about the recycling, soil and water, and public works.

Ellen Pratt, Material Recovery manager, was a wealth of information with her 16 years of experience. Pratt beamed as she discussed partnerships made with Taylor Garbage, Upstate Shredding and Broome County to improve recycling measures in Tioga County.  

Such accomplishments include tire recycling, hazardous materials collections at the homes of those 65 years and older, stream cleanup, and a website containing 18 pages of what can be recycled and how. 

The District Manager of the Soil and Water Conservation District, Wendy Walsh, followed Pratt. Walsh, also with an impressive 17 years experience, explained the history of her department. 

Tioga County Soil and Water Conservation District was formed in 1944 during the dust bowl era. Its mission is to protect, preserve, and restore the natural resources of Tioga County for today, tomorrow and the future through locally led conservation projects and programs. Some of these programs and projects include hydro seeding, stream bank stabilization and rehabilitation, and no till drill. 

Another important issue that Walsh pointed out is to promote agriculture as the business that it is. Farms are businesses. Ag classes in schools and opening local farms to the public for special activities are just a few ways to showcase the importance of farms and agriculture. 

A 20-year veteran in his field, Gary Hammond, commissioner of Public Works, gave a very informative, fact-filled and entertaining power point presentation. Hammond broke down what departments make up the Public Works – Highway, Building and Grounds, Capital Projects; and until the flood of 2011, Solid Waste. He spoke on a variety of topics. A few of the items he covered were the order in which the roads are plowed, why the roads are repaired with certain products, the number of road signs in the county (2,518), and that the geographic center of the county is located on Route 96 in Owego between the two public works buildings.

For information on any of these departments, they are linked to the tiogacountyny.com website. 

For more information on Leadership Tioga, contact the Tioga County Chamber of Commerce at (607) 687-2020 or visit tiogachamber.com.