We will be hosting our 2023 Environmental Speaker Series beginning on October 7th, 2023 and running for four consecutive Saturdays throughout October. This
series will involve speakers from different organizations discussing environmental topics relevant to the City of Buffalo including air quality initiatives, wildlife rehabilitation, urban composting, and bird habitats along the Niagara River.

The goal of these four distinct topics will be both to educate on issues of immediate relevance to our area as well as encourage further involvement in city environmental issues and initiatives.

The four installments of the Speaker Series will be held on October 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th. All four speaking engagements will take place from 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM at the Black Rock Harbor Center, 52 Amherst St., Buffalo NY 14207 and all are open to the public and free to attend.

Here are this year’s presenters, the organizations they represent, and their topics of discussion:

Bridge Rausch – Environmental Justice Organizer, Clean Air Coalition of WNY

Bridge Rausch is the Environmental Justice Organizer for Clean Air’s Tonawanda-area campaigns. They have a master’s of Regional Planning from SUNY Albany and have lived on the West Side of Buffalo since 2009. They have volunteered and worked extensively in Buffalo’s non-profit sector, including at The Service Collaborative of WNY, Preservation Buffalo-Niagara, and the Coalition for Economic Justice, where they currently serve as a board member and volunteer for the Buffalo Transit Riders United and Buffalo Mutual Aid Network campaigns.

About the Clean Air Coalition of WNY

The Clean Air Coalition builds power by developing grassroots leaders who organize their communities to run and win environmental justice and public health campaigns in Western New York.

Discussion Topic: Breathing Free – Clean Air Coalition’s Community Air Monitoring Initiative

Clean Air and the Black Rock Riverside Alliance were both awarded Community Air Monitoring grants from the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. Join us to learn about Clean Air’s program and how the two programs can work together.

Anne K.C. McCooey – Executive Director, Black Rock Riverside Alliance

Anne McCooey is the Executive Director of the Black Rock Riverside Alliance, responsible for planning its various initiatives and activities and securing grants for quality of life improvements in the neighborhoods of northwest Buffalo.

About the Black Rock Riverside Alliance

The BRRAlliance mission is to improve the quality of life for those that live and work in the North District of the City of Buffalo by fostering environmental stewardship and stimulating economic development.

Discussion Topic: The Air You Breathe: In Your Yard and Your Home!

With air quality being the hot topic of the summer this year, more and more focus is on the significant health issues that air quality impacts. Recently the BRRAlliance and Clean Air Coalition were both granted funding to conduct community air quality programs, one that looks at the air quality in the community as a whole, the other that looks at the air quality in your home. These programs are important in the North District because being bordered on three sides by pollution creating infrastructure, this community’s rates of poor air quality impacted health issues is one of the highest in the region. This presentation will share with you what the air quality looks like for the community, how you can get involved in these two new programs and how these programs can help improve the air you breathe.

Barbara Haney – Director of Wildlife, SPCA Serving Erie County

Barbara Haney has worked at the SPCA Serving Erie County as the Director of the Wildlife Department for a decade. She also serves as the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association’s Symposium Program Coordinator. She has a Masters Degree in Education and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science. She has had a varied career in education teaching in various settings and via many different modalities. She was a wildland firefighter in Southern California and Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala working in Environmental Management; she was the first volunteer in her village on Lake Atitlan, sadly, arriving just a few years after the last known sighting of the now-extinct Atitlan grebe. She has a passion for wildlife and helping people understand the inextricable links between human and wildlife well-being.

About the SPCA Serving Erie County:

At the SPCA Serving Erie County, our mission is to create a more humane community through: education, rescuing, protecting and enhancing the lives of animals, and nurturing the bond between animals and people. We envision a community where animals are treated with compassion and respect.

Discussion Topic: Wildlife Rehabilitation in an Urban Setting

The Wildlife Department at the SPCA cares for nearly 4000 animals per year of over 125 different species. Why and how do these animals end up at our hospital and what can we do to make our eco-system a humane habitat for all our wildlife? Explore these question and more with a representative of the SPCA Serving Erie County, the second oldest humane society in North America.

Ignacio Villa – Farmer Pirates Compost

Ignacio has been a lifelong practitioner of organic agriculture. He was born and raised in Colombia. He holds an undergraduate degree in Crop Science from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, and a Master’s degree in Resource Development from Michigan State University. He has worked in agricultural development with small farmers in Colombia; therapeutic farms in Michigan and Ohio; a farm-based middle school in Ohio; waste water management; milking cows and raising pigs in Vermont. He moved to Buffalo in 2016 to be closer to family and joined Farmer Pirates Compost where he has helped this small worker owned cooperative grow to successfully collect and compost up to 40 tons of food scraps per week. Farmer Pirates Compost has just entered into a contract with the city of Buffalo to launch a pilot project to collect food scraps from up to 2,000 homes in the city.

About Farmer Pirates Compost:

Farmer Pirates Compost diverts food scraps from the landfill to make compost that enhances the urban soils, benefitting urban agriculture and the community as a whole.

Discussion Topic: Food Scraps, Compost, Soil Health and Climate Resilience

A healthy soil is a sponge that holds air, water, nutrients, and a myriad of biological entities. A healthy soil provides an optimal environment for plant growth and makes nutritionally dense food. In addition, it regulates moisture by holding it as a sponge does, preventing cycles of flash flooding and drought. A healthy soil is a living organism that needs care and nourishment. Nature has taught us how to care for this living organism that is so critical to our survival, and to the stability of the climate. The most important lesson of nature is that everything that dies must return to the soil. As composters, we are heeding this lesson and doing our part to help our urban neighbors apply this knowledge in as sensible a way as possible. We return food scraps to the soil. Composting is a safe and efficient way to do this. We accelerate the breakdown of food scraps by mixing the right amounts various components to arrive at a finished product that improves the soil. Finished compost is full of beneficial organisms and nutrients that support the life of the soil. A healthy soil, full of life, may become our biggest asset in mitigating climate change, because in addition to all the benefits described above, it also becomes a powerful carbon sink. Healthy soils can sequester large amounts of carbon dioxide, making them one of the most powerful tools to slow climate change.

Connie Adams – Wildlife Biologist – NYS Department of Environmental Conservation

Connie Adams has worked in the field of Ornithology since she graduated from Cornell in 1983 where she did her bachelors and masters in Natural Resources. She studied Double-crested diet on Oneida Lake, NY for her masters in 1993.  She worked at temporary jobs for federal, state, and university agencies with birds, seals, and fish for 15 years, and has been a wildlife biologist for the DEC in Buffalo since 2005.  She is from North Tonawanda and she loves to garden with perennials, native trees and shrubs and flowers.

About NYS DEC Bureau of Wildlife:

The mission of the Bureau of Wildlife is to provide the people of NY the opportunity to enjoy all the benefits of the wildlife of the State through sound management of the wildlife species in a manner that is clearly described, consistent with law, and in harmony with Public need.

Discussion Topic: Terning the Tide: how construction of an island in the Niagara River helps the Uncommon Common Tern

This presentation will describe construction of a series of islands in the vicinity of Strawberry and Motor Island in the Niagara River, near Black Rock. These islands were built to enhance, protect, and restore riverine habitat for fish and birds. It will focus on Tern Island, built to help restore the population of the Common Tern, and will include description of waterbirds of the Niagara River.
Funding for this project came through the NY Power Authority Habitat Enhancement Restoration Fund, and was applied for by, and awarded to, Buffalo Audubon. The islands in this presentation were constructed by LDC Construction, of Grand Island.