Summer 2003
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| Old Field Preserve in spring. |
Three years of organizing, persuading, educating, fund-raising, and negotiating came to a rousing conclusion in July with the acquisition of the Old Field Preserve in Lewisboro - forever protecting 110 acres of habitat, trails and important watershed land.
To keep this sensitive property from being subdivided for houses, a coalition that included Westchester Land Trust, the residents of Lewisboro, the Wolf Conservation Center, New York State, Westchester County, and the Town of Lewisboro worked to raise the $4.2 million purchase price and secure a contract with the owner, Glickenhaus-Doynow Homebuilders, LLC.
The property was listed as a priority for preservation in Lewisboro's open space plan, and is in priority area A of New York City's Croton Reservoir watershed.
"This land had so much to recommend it that people were willing to make an extraordinary effort to see that it was preserved," said Paul Gallay, Westchester Land Trust's executive director. "It's hard to imagine a more important victory for preservation."
The property is near the intersection of Route 35 and Mead Street, just north of Ward Pound Ridge Reservation. Hikers can gain access to its trails from an entry point on Mead Street opposite Schoolhouse Road.
The Old Field Preserve derives its name from the five fields, at various stages of succession, that it encompasses. As forests mature in Westchester and meadows are converted to lawns and building lots, field habitats - and the species that rely on them - are becoming more rare. Those species include field sparrow, prairie warbler, indigo bunting, among many others.