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Aaron R. Vogel: North Country Environmental Leader
The Thousand Islands Land Trust with great sadness informs the community of the sudden death of Aaron Vogel, our Executive Director, on Wednesday, November 26, 2008.
Aaron Vogel was a graduate of Bishop Kearney High School, Rochester and received a degree in Landscape Architecture from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse. He acquired his love of the outdoors from his mother Nancy Vogel and his grandparents Anna and Joseph Snyder, spending many enjoyable weeks at the family farm in Waterloo, NY.
Aaron first joined TILT as an intern in 1996 and his primary duty was to design the Grindstone Island Nature Trail which connects Canoe and Picnic Point State Parks.
Because of his obvious skills and love of the St. Lawrence River, Aaron was thereafter employed full-time as Land Steward by TILT and worked closely with the late Sissy Danforth who was TILT’s first Executive Director. Aaron became a vital member of the leadership of TILT and was promoted to the position of Assistant Director and then to Executive Director in 2005. He worked closely with many community organizations including New York State Office of Parks and Recreation, the Village and Town of Clayton, Ducks Unlimited and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
Under Aaron’s leadership, TILT enlarged the Zenda Farm Preserve located at the edge of the Village of Clayton to 400 acres and the Crooked Creek preserve in the Towns of Alexandria and Hammond to over 1,400 acres. He led the growth and training of TILT staff and expanded the TILT community outreach program – TILTreks & Talks. In conjunction with the TILT board and other volunteers, Aaron secured significant funding for investment in habitat restoration and open space preservation of properties in the North Country.
A recent joint project being implemented by Aaron with Ducks Unlimited and the US Fish and Wildlife Service was the restoration of grassland habitat, potholes and wetlands on the Rusho Farm and the Douglas Howard-Smith Preserves on Grindstone Island. He was instrumental in developing the Zenda Farm Preserve and was designing the LoisJean and John MacFarlane Trail along the periphery of the meadows and the Bartlett Point woods.
Aaron was a leader within the environmental movement, particularly in the land trust community. He was a member of the Land Trust Alliance New York Advisory Committee, the New York State Region 6 Department of Environmental Conservation Open Space Advisory Committee, and a committee of the Clayton Local Development Corporation among others.
Aaron is survived by his wife Robin Hoffman Vogel of Clayton, his mother Nancy Vogel and his grandmother Anna Snyder both of Waterloo, NY, and his father Charles Vogel of Fairbanks, Alaska.
Aaron’s family has requested that memorial donations be sent to the Thousand Islands Land Trust, PO Box 235, Clayton, NY or to the American Heart Association.
Susan W. Smith, President of TILT stated, “We have lost a dear friend and a wonderful person who always put his passion for the Thousand Islands ahead of everything else. TILT owes a great deal to this young man and he will certainly be remembered for his professional talents as well as his delightful sense of humor. It was a privilege to work with him."
A memorial service will be held in the summer of 2009 in Clayton.