Finger Lakes Land Trust adds James Walsh as board member

ITHACA, N.Y. — The Finger Lakes Land Trust (FLLT) announced on Dec. 10 that it has appointed former U.S. Congressman James T. Walsh to its board of directors for a three-year term. 

Walsh is currently serving as a government-affairs counselor for K&L Gates, a law firm based in Washington D.C. He and his wife DeDe live in Spafford on Otisco Lake and have been members of the FLLT since 2011. Their son, Ben Walsh, is mayor of Syracuse.

Jim Walsh joins the FLLT board after serving in an advisory capacity on the organization’s president’s council for several years. 

He is both an avid outdoorsman and a conservationist who enjoys fly fishing, hiking, and birding, and cares deeply about the Finger Lakes,” the FLLT said in a news release.

In addition to the FLLT, Walsh serves on the boards of numerous nonprofit organizations including the Onondaga Environmental Institute, U.S. Soccer Foundation, Saint Bonaventure University, and Co-operation Ireland. 

Walsh represented the Syracuse–area Congressional district from January 1989 to January 2009.

The Finger Lakes Land Trust says it has protected more than 25,000 acres of the Finger Lakes region’s undeveloped lakeshore, rugged gorges, rolling forests, and scenic farmland. Its approach involves working cooperatively with landowners and local communities. The FLLT owns and manages a network of 35 nature preserves that are open to the public and holds perpetual conservation easements on 150 properties that remain in private ownership.

The organization says it focuses on protecting critical habitat for fish and wildlife, conserving lands that are important for water quality, connecting existing conservation lands, and keeping prime farmland in agriculture. The FLLT also provides programs to educate local governments, landowners, and area residents about conservation and the region’s unique natural resources.