TIMELINE: Two Decades of Farmland Protection

1992-93

  • Secured conservation easements on an orchard and vineyard in the Olana Viewshed, Town of Greenport, Columbia County, on a total of 220 acres.

1996

  • Established a diverse farmland protection advisory committee to assist in developing a pilot project involving the purchase of development rights on working farms

.

1997

  • Established the goal of protecting a critical mass of working farmland in agricultural communities of the Hudson Valley.

1998

  • Permanently protected seven working farms through the purchase of development rights, totaling over 1,000 acres in the Town of Red Hook, Dutchess County. These include two vegetable farms, one field crop farm and four orchards.

2001

  • Permanently protected through PDR five working field crop farms in the Town of Stuyvesant, Columbia County, on a total of over 1,900 acres. Leveraged over $300,000 in state funding.
  • Purchased a conservation easement on a 57-acre apple orchard in the Town of Marlborough, Ulster County, lying adjacent to the Gomez Mill House historic site.

2002

  • Secured conservation easement on a 230-acre horse farm in the Town of Clermont, Columbia County, adjacent to the Clermont State Historic Site
  • Secured conservation easement on a 153-acre apple orchard in the Olana Viewshed, Town of Livingston, Columbia County.

2003

  • Purchased conservation easements on a dairy farm and a field crop farm in the Town of Stuyvesant, totaling more than 700 acres. Leveraged over $500,000 from state and other private sources.

2004

  • Purchased a conservation easement on a 230-acre vegetable farm in the Town of Red Hook, leveraging $465,000 in funding from Dutchess County.
  • Partnered with the Town of Warwick, Orange County, to purchase the development rights to a 41-acre field crop farm, the first to close in the Town’s publicly funded farmland protection program.
  • Purchased a conservation easement on a 174-acre field crop farm in the Town of Stockport, Columbia County, adjacent to a 193-acre future nature preserve owned by The Scenic Hudson Land Trust. The agricultural easement contains the right to create a public trail across a highly scenic stretch of the farm, while not interfering with agricultural operations.
  • Began background work to initiate a “critical mass” farmland protection project in the Towns of Clermont, Germantown and Livingston, Columbia County.

2005

  • Purchased a conservation easement on a 139-acre orchard in the Town of Red Hook, leveraging $393,311 in funding from The Town of Red Hook.
  • Partnered with the Town of Warwick, Orange County to permanently protect through PDR two working farms, on a total of over 165 acres. Leveraged over $1,000,000 in public funding.

2006

  • Partnered with Ulster County and the Open Space Institute to purchase a conservation easement on 269 acres of fertile cropland in the Rondout Valley – this was the first state funded PDR project to close in Ulster County. Leveraged over $400,000 in public and private funding.
  • Partnering with the Town of Warwick, Orange County and with funding from the Federal Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program we purchase a conservation easement on a 200+acre angus farm. Leveraged over $1.67 million in public funding.
  • Partnering with The Nature Conservancy we purchase a conservation easement on the 167-acre sheep farm in Stuyvesant, Columbia County, leveraging over $200,000 in other public funding sources and a charitable contribution from the landowner.

2007

  • Partnering with the Town of Warwick and the Orange County Land Trust we purchased a conservation easement on a 300-acre beef and hay operation. This transaction leverages $870,000 in public funding and completed our preservation efforts in this community.
  • Secured four conservation easements to permanently protect three leased field crop farms through the purchase of development rights, totaling over 500 acres in the Town of Clermont, Columbia County creating the core of a “critical mass” of protected farmland in this community.
  • Partnered with Ulster County and the Open Space Institute to purchase a conservation easement on 325 additional acres of fertile cropland in the Rondout Valley, leveraging over $850,000 of other public and private funds. Another portion of this project will include the permanent protection of an additional 45 adjacent acres.
  • Permanently protected two family-operated orchards totaling more than 70 acres in the town of Marbletown, Ulster County.