Land Preservation

Land Sale in Harrison

Tom Andersen — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:47:45 -0400

What is the effect on land preservation of the recession and the difficulty towns are having balancing their budgets? One answer can be found in Harrison, where the town wants to sell 14 undeveloped acres it owns to raise cash.

$5 Million Easement

Tom Andersen — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:31:53 -0400

Bernards, New Jersey, has voted to buy a conservation easement that includes public access for $5 million.

For Sale

Tom Andersen — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 09:51:56 -0400

Even when I lived in the Adirondacks, 30 years ago, Follensby Pond was iconic -- a remote lake with both wilderness and poetry at its heart. Ralph Waldo Emerson, James Russell Lowell, Louis Agassiz and others of the Boston intellectual elite camped there in 1858, and their host, William James Stillman, underwent some truly mystical experiences, if his book, The Autobiography of a Journalist, is to be believed.

Down on the Farm

Tom Andersen — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:21:51 -0400

Locally-grown food is all the rage among the cognoscenti. The Journal News has a story today (here) that sketches out the trend and profiles a handful of farms in Westchester.

Deer on the Diamond

Tom Andersen — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:38:17 -0400

Wondering just how common deer have gotten in Westchester County? A doe ran onto the field during a high school baseball game in Dobbs Ferry yesterday.

New at Bedford Audubon

Tom Andersen — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:46:45 -0500

Our friend Jim Nordgren has been named the first executive director in the 95-year history of Bedford Audubon. Jim is a member of Westchester Land Trust's Advisory Board. He and his wife, Peggy, also donated a conservation easement on their land in South Salem, and Jim was instrumental in efforts to buy and protect the Old Field Preserve and the Leon Levy Preserve.

Protecting Ryder Farm

Tom Andersen — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:51:58 -0400

Ryder Farm, one of the oldest farms in the region (it's been in the same family for almost 200 years), sits on the west shore of Peach Lake, just above the North Salem border, in Southeast. Although it's in Putnam County, it's close enough and important enough for us to do what we can to help protect it.

Farmland Protection

Tom Andersen — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:02:27 -0400

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

The Decider

Tom Andersen — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:56:04 -0400

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.

The Meads of Waccabuc

Tom Andersen — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:42:06 -0400

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."