Founders Fund

In 1946, Rochester Garden Club & Allyn’s Creek Garden Club donated $1,535.00 to help purchase 200 acres of swamp for the Bergen Swamp Preservation Society (BSPS). As the 1947 GCA Founders Fund winner of $1,200.00, an additional 24 acres of property was purchased. This tract of swamp is known as “The Garden Club of America Tract”.

The purpose of this society is to conserve the flora and fauna and to offer to schools, colleges (Cornell) and other interested parties access for observation, research, and study. Many rare plants (ie: Cypripedium candidum, or Small White Lady’s Slipper) and a number of rare and endangered species of animals are found there.

Bergen Swamp Preservation Society was designated as the first “National Natural Landmark” in 1964. Nearly 3000 acres of wetlands, just 17 miles west
of Rochester, NY, remain not only a local, but a national treasure preserved for generations.