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MORE THAN A DROP IN THE BUCKET

RENSSELAER LAND TRUST RECEIVES $5,000 RBC BLUE WATER PROJECT GRANT

dillbrooksm Rensselaer Land Trust has received a $5,000 grant from the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) in support its RBC Blue Water Project.

Chosen as a grant recipient for its shared commitment to protect watersheds, Rensselaer Land Trust will use the $5,000 grant to increase watershed awareness by developing an online interactive map of Rensselaer County's watersheds, water districts and water sources.

jimwandchristiney The RBC Blue Water Project is a wide-ranging, multi-year program to help foster a culture of water stewardship. Since lack of access to clean water is considered to be one of the major threats to human health and economic development around the world, RBC is working to create a "blue water future" of sustainable water resources worldwide. The first phase of the RBC Blue Water Project is a grant program of $50 million over ten years.

(Jim Watkinson, wealth manager for RBC, congratulates Christine Young, executive director.)

icefistsm "We will make information on water sources easily available to anyone with internet access, increasing awareness about the importance of water resources and how to keep water clean," Nick Conrad, President of Rensselaer Land Trust, said. "We could not accomplish our mission without the support of companies like RBC who share in our beliefs about the value of protecting nature's most precious resource."

(Water photos copyright Trix Niernberger)

Rensselaer Land Trust Purchases Hoosic River Property

The Rensselaer Land Trust has purchased lands along the Hoosic River that is a mile long near Eagle Bridge on the Rensselaer County side consisting of approximately 39 acres of agricultural lands. The Department of Environmental Conservation plans to install a boat and fishing access at one end of the property to be opened in early 2010.

Rensselaer Land Trust Accredited by LTA

2008 will go down as a watershed year for the Rensselaer Land Trust, both in focus and in institutional development. It marks the transition of the old Rensselaer-Taconic Land Conservancy to the new Rensselaer Land Trust. This transition is more than a new name and logo, it is the culmination of two years of hard work by the Board, staff and advisors in analyzing, refining and redefining every aspect of this organization and its purpose.

The Rensselaer Land Trust Board put in hundreds of hours of effort to accomplish this task with the goal of submitting a national accreditation application to the Land Trust Alliance to become one of the first of the 1,800 land trusts in the United States to achieve this highest recognition by the national land trust community. Their dedication and commitment to this objective paid off. In August of 2008, the Land Trust Alliance's Accreditation Commission informed Rensselaer Land Trust that they, along with 37 other land trusts, were awarded the first-ever national accreditation award.

Executive Director John Middlebrooks accepted this award on behalf of the Rensselaer Land Trust Board in November at the Land Trust Alliance's national conference in Pittsburgh. Rensselaer Land Trust was further recognized as being the smallest land trust to receive accreditation and, together with much larger and nationally recognized land trusts, now proudly displays the accreditation seal of approval. Rensselaer Land Trust has earned the respect and trust of every land trust in the United States for this effort and recognition.

Rensselaer Land Trust Protects two more properties

Two more properties in southern Rensselaer County are protected. Alice LeBlanc of Manhattan, has placed a conservation easement on her 76 acre parcel off Calvin Cole Rd in Stephentown. This property borders Randall Brook and is surrounded undeveloped land, some of which she hopes to purchase and add to the easement. It has wetland, forest, and open areas, and a historic cemetery. The second property is a 154 acre parcel of Mashodack Rd in Nassau owned by the Simonsons. It consists of rolling fields and pastures, some forested areas, and has a spring fed pond.