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Environmental Management Council outlines five‑year plan, UNA revisions and county environmental directory
Summary
Kate Darfler, chair of the Tompkins County Environmental Management Council, briefed the PEAK Committee on a five‑year strategic plan being prepared with Cornell, the final round of unique natural area revisions, and a project to build a public environmental directory.
Kate Darfler, chair of the Tompkins County Environmental Management Council (EMC), updated the Planning, Energy and Environmental Quality Committee on the EMC’s priorities for the coming year, including a five‑year strategic plan produced with Cornell University, the final stage of revisions to the county’s unique natural areas (UNAs) mapping, and an environmental directory project to help residents find local environmental organizations and programs.
Darfler said EMC is working with a Cornell Brooks School for Public Policy graduate class that is using the EMC as a case study to develop a five‑year strategic plan. Stakeholder interviews — including EMC members, legislators, planning staff and recycling officials — will begin the week after the committee meeting and are expected to take about 45 minutes each. “Stakeholder interviews are a big part of it,” Darfler said.
On UNAs, Darfler said the council and consultants have been revising boundaries using contemporary GIS data to better align with vegetation changes and property lines. She asked county legislators and municipal staff to expect a USB thumb drive with the final UNA reports and urged EMC members to present the UNA findings to their municipalities to provide context beyond the mailed report.
Darfler also described an environmental directory the EMC is building for the county website. The directory will be a searchable, map‑style interface that allows users to find organizations by keyword and view contact and engagement information. The EMC plans to maintain the back‑end dataset and is considering a model that requires organizations listed to provide at least one way the public can get involved without employment (for example, volunteer opportunities or public meetings).
Questions from committee members focused on the EMC’s ability to keep the directory updated and whether municipalities could help with outreach. Darfler said the EMC intends to maintain the dataset and to coordinate with county communications staff to publish the tool on the county website.
Ending: Darfler asked PEAK members to expect outreach from Cornell students for interviews and invited legislators to help ensure municipalities engage with the UNA reports when they arrive.
