Conservation Roundtable January 21; Planning Award for Greene Land Trust; Wawarsing Adopts CSC Pledge

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Hudson RiverNet
News from the Hudson River Estuary Program

In This Issue:

  • Conservation Roundtable January 21 in Guilderland
  • Greene Land Trust Recognized with Ellen Rettus County Planning Achievement Award
  • Wawarsing Adopts Critical Environmental Areas and Climate Smart Communities Pledge

Capital District Conservation Roundtable January 21 in Guilderland

A group of people gather around site maps on a long table in a room.Community volunteers serving on municipal conservation advisory councils and county environmental management councils play an important role across the Capital District by advising local and county government on matters related to the environment. This annual roundtable will feature presentations of local conservation case studies followed by community updates. This event is open to the public, but updates will be limited to local government participants.

The conservation roundtable will take place Tuesday, January 21st, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. at the Guilderland Public Library. The snow date for this event is Tuesday, January 28. Register online.  For more information, contact Ingrid Haeckel at (845) 256-3829 or Jill Falchi-Henck at (518) 453-0850.

Greene Land Trust Receives County Planning Award

An woman in a sweater and grey skirt stands next to an older man holding a framed award.The Greene County Planning Board recently awarded the Greene Land Trust with a planning achievement award in the category of environmental preservation, recreation, and open space for the development of the Natural Resource Inventory (NRI) for Greene County, New York. The region has abundant forests, streams, wetlands, grasslands, and shorelines that are habitat for a myriad of fish and wildlife. The NRI describes and maps these important natural resources, as well as scenic areas and outdoor recreation assets. This information will help towns, villages, conservation organizations, landowners, and others involved in local land-use, land management, or conservation to inform planning, conservation and management activities in the county.

The land trust partnered with Hudsonia and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Columbia and Greene counties to develop the NRI, with technical assistance and grant funding from the Hudson River Estuary Program. 

Town of Wawarsing Adopts Critical Environmental Areas and CSC Pledge

Following a multi-year process to inventory and prioritize its natural areas, the Town of Wawarsing in Ulster County implemented important conservation actions in 2019. The town adopted two critical environmental areas (CEAs) to help protect the exceptional and unique character of a large wetland complex and an important landscape connection between the Catskills and Shawangunk Ridge. The CEA designation was a recommendation in the town’s open space plan and will require potential impacts to these important areas to be evaluated during environmental reviews.

The town’s proactive planning to preserve water resources, large forests, and wildlife habitat connections strongly aligns with the climate adaptation goals of the NYS Climate Smart Communities (CSC) program. To formalize their continuing commitment to be climate smart, the town board adopted the CSC pledge at their final meeting of 2019.

The town of Wawarsing received technical assistance and grant funding from the Hudson River Estuary Program to complete its open space inventory, open space plan, and implementation actions.

View of the Shawangunk Ridge on a cloudy fall day with a field of yellowing ferns in the foreground.