New Staff Member
Marcos Velazquez, Steward Coordinator

Marcos joined Rensselaer Land Trust on April 1, 2021 as our Stewardship Coordinator. This is a new position for us and reflects the need to comprehensively manage the maintenance of our growing number of nature preserves. Marcos will work part-time from April through September.

Marcos has previous land trust experience having served as Outreach Ambassador at the Clearwater Conservancy in State College, PA. After graduating from Penn State University in 2019, Marcos joined the Americorps VISTA Program in Troy. During his time with Americorps VISTA he participated as a community volunteer and discovered RLT through our events. Marcos also works at Seed Solar and Engineering, where he designs and installs residential and commercial solar energy systems.

In his free time Marcos enjoys being outside, playing basketball, and traveling.

 Expanding Parking at Featherweald Nature Preserve in Buskirk

Featherweald Nature Preserve opened to the public in October 2020 and since then has become a very popular destination. So much so that we had to expand the parking there. In the past few weeks, our preserve stewards and neighbors Angelynn Cerridwen and Gary Sytsma, Marcos Velazquez, our new Stewardship Coordinator (see above), and RLT Board President Bob Crowley, added a new parking area next to the white cottage in the lower part of the preserve. They also added new signage. We thank them for their hard work on very short notice. We also thank Stewart's Shops for the grant they provided to help us buy the materials for the project. We ask that on your next visit to Featherweald you use the new lower lot if you find that the upper lot is full. And for your safety, and the safety of the community, we ask that you do not park along Route 59 or in the neighboring driveways.

A Reminder About Closed Trails at Featherweald

Part of Featherweald Nature Preserve is closed during the Great Blue Heron's nesting season (Febraury 1 August 31). Dogs are prohibited at this preserve to ensure the herons continue to feel safe in their nesting territory and return next season. Thank you for helping us keeping this unique area protected!

New Bridge at Staalesen Nature Preserve in Troy

Bob Crowley, RLT Board President and co-steward of John B. Staalesen Vanderheyden Preserve in South Troy and Marcos Velazquez, RLT's new Stewardship Coordinator took advantage of warm weather in the early spring to build a new bridge over one of the creeks at the preserve.

On December 30, 2020, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the Albany-Hudson Electric Trail (AHET), a 36-mile bicycling and hiking route from the City of Rensselaer in Rensselaer County to the Town of Greenport in Columbia County, is complete and open to the public. The Hudson River Valley Greenway constructed the project, which is part of the statewide Empire State Trail. Most of the AHET Trail is an off-road “rail trail” built on an historic electric trolley corridor, now owned by National Grid which donated authorization to NYS to construct the trail. The remainder of the AHET route is designated along public roadways.

NYS has created a comprehensive Empire State Trail website which provides detailed AHET trail segment descriptions: https://empiretrail.ny.gov/. The website includes an online map allowing visitors to zoom in to see the precise trail route, including asphalt and stonedust trail sections, on-road connections, designated parking areas, and nearby attractions.

Read more: Albany-Hudson Electric Trail Opens to the Public!

Message from the President

I’ve had the pleasure of serving as RLT President for almost a year and I must say, it has been quite an education in everything from Acquisition of land to running Zoom meetings. While that’s all been interesting, the most remarkable part of representing RLT is continuing to encounter a wider range of people committed to promoting conservation than I had ever imagined existed. Here are some examples of who I’m talking about: the Johnson family who graciously donated our Featherweald Nature Preserve; the Hudson Valley Greenway which RLT aided in developing the Albany Hudson Electric Trail; volunteers who devote every Wednesday to improving trails throughout the county; donors who entrust RLT with their thousands of dollars of financial support; community members who generously donate their weekends for everything from building bridges to painting houses to expanding parking lots; local government officials who see the value in RLT’s work; neighbors who (usually) enjoy and thank us for open spaces we maintain; donors who entrust RLT with fifty dollars of financial support; members of the former Schodack Area Land Trust who have joined forces with RLT and the list could go on and on…but I think you see my point.

Read more: 2020 Newsletter/2019 Annual Report