National News

Is open space good for your mental health and outlook? This study from the Netherlands seems to indicate that it is.

The Regional Plan Association released a report yesterday with recommendations for ways to make six communities in Westchester County and Connecticut more livable.

We're big turtle fans here at Westchester Land Trust -- we have spotted, box, wood, musk, painted and snapping on land we've protected, and we spent weeks a few years ago trying to find bog turtles in a fen we thought a likely spot.

We were amused to read the other day that the list of witnesses scheduled to testify at the Senate's hearings on Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court included one of our favorite former pitchers (David Cone, Mets 1987-1991 and Yankees (1996-2001) and one of our favorite Westchester Land Trust Board members, Mary Boies.

We visited a neighbor the other day who we are hoping will become a supporter of Westchester Land Trust. He showed us around his property and, as we were walking among some trees, told us of his plans to put up spotlights - up-lights, I think he called them - to illuminate his maples and oaks at night. I thought: But wouldn't it be nicer if it were dark some of the time? Do we need to brighten everything? It's hard enough to see the stars as it 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.

The signs in Congress are good for the Farm Bill, which includes an important provision about conservation easements. The bill working its way through Congress would reinstate the expanded federal tax incentives for conservation easements, which expired at the end of 2007.