The Four Corners

Our favorite secret natural area is an eight- or 10-acre fen at the bottom of a basin of hills covered with oaks, hickories and red cedars.

There's good news from Albany for those of us who think protecting working farms should be a state priority.

Christopher O. Ward, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, gets high praise in the New York Times today for knowing how to make tough decisions. We worked with Chris on two projects three or four years ago, when he was the commissioner of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.

Yesterday's mail brought the Spring 2008 issue of the Westchester Historian, the journal of the Westchester County Historical Society, and we were excited to see that the issue bore the title, "Stewards of the Land: The Meads of Waccabuc."

The Lewisboro Ledger did a terrific job with a feature story about Susan Henry, a charter member of our Board of Directors and the recipient of our Preservation ANGEL award at out annual gala tomorrow evening.

Paul Gallay, Westchester Land Trust's executive director, made an important point in yesterday's Journal News story about the Valeria conservation easements and the development that is part of the deal.

The Pound Ridge Land Conservancy, with whom we have worked closely over the past six or seven years, is having an open house on Sunday, June 8, from 2 to 4 p.m., to mark the opening of its new house, at the Armstrong Preserve on Route 121, just north of the Cross River Reservoir causeway.

Westchester Wilderness Walk, our 150-acre preserve in Pound Ridge, is featured in a new book called 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: New York City (2nd edition), by Christopher and Catherine Brooks.

Farmers markets are enjoying a renaissance, and local food is a fad that a lot of us hope becomes a trend and then a custom. At Westchester Land Trust, we've tried to do our part by working to protect local farms, and by supporting farmland preservation beyond Westchester County. But with our 2008 Gala around the corner (Saturday evening, June 14), we thought it important to become the first local non-profit (to our knowledge) to put our meal money where our mouth is.

Congress has restored the enhanced tax benefits that are available to donors of conservation easements, although getting to the bottom of the situation in Washington can be confusing.