You can see it in the faces of Shirley and Gerald Dunn. It is in the warmth of their smiles and the earnest enthusiasm of their eyes. It is in the strength of their gait through the waist-high pastures despite the intense summer sun. It is reflected in their voices as they speak.

It is their love of the land. And a commitment to the future regardless of their 83 years.

Married in 1950, the Dunns bought 30 acres in the town of Schodack in 1967 and 1969. The land was a portion of a farm owned by the Sagendorf family. The Dunns anticipated a time when they would build a home to retire there, or sell it to cover the college tuition for four children. They did neither.

Over the years, the land has been used for recreation and pleasure. Hiking to the top of the hill, they enjoy the view of both the Catskills and Taconic range. In the spring, they delight in the beautiful shadbush that blooms on the ridge. Summer visits bring delicious blackberries, which they picked during our August trip. And during winter months, their kids and youth groups used to toboggan down the hill, skate on the pond and camp.

In 2010, the Dunns protected the land, called Shadbush Hill Preserve, in perpetuity by agreeing to a conservation easement with the Rensselaer Land Trust. The easement does not transfer ownership, but shields the land from development and keeps it agriculturally viable.

The Preserve contains old orchard trees, meadows, 18 birdhouses, woodlands, a pond, a wetland and the Balekill Stream, and is part of the watershed for the Muitzeskill Creek, which flows into the Hudson River.

In August, the property was filled with bees, birds, goldenrod, Queen Anne's lace, sedge, spreading dogbane, cattails, Joe-Pye weed, common milkweed and a hummingbird visiting spotted knapweed.

The Dunns have volunteered to talk with other families considering conservation easements and want owners to know that a variety of future uses of the land are permitted.

Gerald said, "Where initially we contemplated restrictions consistent with preservation of habitat for wildlife, as discussions progressed, we recognized that the land once had been an active farm and that many agricultural uses would be consistent with the key preservation goals we had in mind."

Shirley beamed as she concluded that it will always be "a very beautiful tract of land."