Celebrate with Us November 12

Wood and Water, Sand and Stream
Celebrating 30 Years of Land Protection in Rensselaer County

We invite everyone from our communities to join us as we celebrate at Brown’s Brewing Company’s Revolution Hall at
417 River Street in Troy. Parking is available at the site.

A plated dinner will be catered by Brown’s Brewing Company.
Tickets are $30 per person, cash bar will be open.
To RSVP, purchase tickets, & select dinner options

CLICK HERE

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Rensselaer Land Trust. Thirty years ago a group of forward-thinking citizens from our area saw the need to conserve key lands for open space, for wildlife habitat, and to maintain our quality of life. Three decades later that vision has protected over 1,300 acres of land in Rensselaer County, including eight nature preserves and fifteen conservation easements.

RLT is accredited by the Land Trust Alliance and, in fact, was among the first land trusts accredited when the program was established. We are also a member of the Berkshire-Taconic Regional Conservation Partnership, a collaborative effort among area land conservation groups to deliver landscape scale land protection.

After 30 years there are many people to thank for land conservation in Rensselaer County. We’ll do so at our Annual Meeting and 30th Anniversary Celebration on November 12th at Brown’s Revolution Hall in Troy.

We’ll take time to honor our donors, volunteers, and current and former board members and staff. We will hear from outgoing County Executive Kathy Jimino and Troy Mayor Patrick Madden. We’ll pay tribute to our founders and our past RLT presidents, board members, and staff including Christine Young, our former executive director, who guided RLT so ably for nine years. We will also welcome our new Executive Director, John Winter, who joined the organization in June 2017. John will usher in the fourth decade of countywide land protection by advancing and expanding RLT’s longstanding mission of protecting key lands and bringing people together through conservation.

2017 Honorees

As part of the Annual Meeting we will honor the 2017 William Niemi Conservation Leadership Award winner David Hunt and the 2017 Volunteer of the Year Award winner Marcy Steinberg for their inspiring conservation work.

Ecologist, Dr. David Hunt, will be honored for his many years studying the plants, animals, and natural communities of Rensselaer County, advocating for their conservation, and providing ecological expertise to landowners, towns, and conservation organizations.

RLT Volunteer, Marcy Steinberg, will be honored for her years of volunteer work as a member of the RLT Trail Crew, and a member of the Outings and Events Committee. Marcy has been providing years of support as Coordinator for the Mushroom Series, which annually is a popular educational and outreach component in RLT’s spring and summer programming.

“We are thrilled to be welcoming old friends and new to celebrate our 30th anniversary. It is the vision and hard work of so many people that we are commemorating this special day.” said Kristina Younger, RLT’s Board President.

 Live Entertainment

As a special treat, George Wilson, local renowned fiddler, multi-instrumental virtuoso, and singer will perform a variety of traditional and folk styles. George has mastered nearly 500 tunes from New England, Quebec, Cape Breton, Scotland, Ireland, and Shetland. Learn more about George's music here.