Swiss Re Helps

Thanks to two dozen fabulous employees of Swiss Re in Armonk, we now have another preserve with trails for the public to enjoy.

 

The Swiss Re folks spent Thursday, June 10, 2010, working as volunteers at our Hemlock Brook Preserve in Yorktown, erecting an entrance kiosk, putting up signs and trail markers, and clearing a loop trail.

 

The 14-acre preserve can now be enjoyed by the public – our ninth preserve with trails.

 

The Swiss Re employees were participating in Westchester Land Trust’s Helping Hands corporate volunteer program, which puts people from local companies to work as volunteers improving preserves and parks.

 

They were helped by John Schroeder, president of the Yorktown Land Trust; Jason Klein of the Westchester County Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation; and by two Westchester Land Trust volunteers, Suzanne Mancuso and Gaylord Holmes.

 

Bill Kuebler, Bobbe Stultz, Keeva Young-Wright and Eileen Hochberg of the land trust staff coordinated the effort, along with three team leaders from Swiss Re: Leslie Cassale, Doreene Caporale and Sebestien Bert.

 

Westchester Land Trust’s Helping Hands program puts teams of volunteers from area businesses to work on one-day projects on preserved lands, to enhance the appearance, safety, and usability of the land.

 

Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Katonah was the first participant in the Helping Hands program. Diversified Investment Advisers, based in Purchase, and C.W. Brown, of Armonk, are scheduled for the fall of 2010.

 

Although small, Hemlock Brook Preserve is unusually beautiful, with the brook itself slicing through a steep hemlock ravine that feels more like the Adirondacks than the lower Hudson Valley.

The preserve is on Baptist Church Road. Parking is limited; visitors should park along the road.