Rye High Junior Named to City of Rye Conservation Commission/Advisory Council

A junior at Rye High School has been named to the City of Rye Conservation Commission/Advisory Council (“CC/AC”). The 2024-2025 Junior Commissioner will be Ella Froah, a junior at Rye High School, who has promised to uphold the Rye City Codes and will serve in the new position through 2025. On April 2nd, Froah was sworn in at a City Hall ceremony, and Leo Roth, the 2023-2024 Junior Commissioner member and a student at Rye Country Day School, received recognition for his one year of service and accomplishments on the CC/AC.

“The CC/AC created the junior member position as part of a focused effort to reach out to young residents,” said Tracy Stora, chairperson of the CC/AC. “We are thrilled to be entering our third successful year with this initiative.”

The Rye City Council unanimously voted to create the first-of-its-kind Junior Member position for the CC/AC in 2021.

Meet the New Commissioner

Froah is a junior at Rye High School and is active in the Environmental Conservation Club, leader of the Envirothon team at Rye, volunteer at the Greenburgh Nature Center, and is presently developing a plan to design and create a pollinator garden at the Rye Nature Center. In her new role, Froah will serve for one year and attend all commission meetings, attend site visits, conduct policy research, assist with educational programming and social media outreach, learn about the City of Rye’s wetland and land use laws, continue to create a digital photographic archive of Rye’s wetlands and other conservation areas and database of native, non-native and invasive species that outgoing commissioner Leo Roth established.

“I am excited to learn and be involved with current pressing issues about wetlands and the environment,” said the new commissioner Froah. “I hope to fulfill my role to the best of my ability and strengthen my science research of migratory monarch butterflies.”

“I had a great time serving on the CC/AC and learning about urban design, environmental policy, landscape architecture, and sustainability through first-hand experience,” said outgoing commissioner Roth. “Through creating an accessible database of native and invasive plants, environmental education materials for social media, working with the Rye Nature Center Conservation team, and more, I gained invaluable experience for my future endeavors”.

In attendance at the City Hall ceremony were Mayor Josh Cohn, Committee Chairperson Tracy Stora, City Clerk Noga Ruttenberg, City Councilmembers Bill Henderson and Jamie Jensen, and Froah and Roth’s parents.

Entering its 52nd year, The City of Rye Conservation Commission/Advisory Council was founded under Article 12-F of NYS General Municipal Law and is part of a network of more than 300 regional conservation commissions organized by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The Commission assists in the administration of environmental regulatory activities, provides an environmental perspective on land use proposals, comprehensive plans, stewardship of wetlands and other natural areas, and advises the planning commission on wetlands permit applications.

See the recent MyRye.com profile on the Conservation Commission/Advisory Council and its Chair Tracy Stora.