If you joined us at the 2019 RLT annual meeting, you might recall I closed the event with a few comments about myself, about RLT as an organization and about our members and community.

I’ve been involved with RLT for ten years…six of those as Treasurer. Prior lives were spent working for the NYS Department of Transportation and Division of the Budget, in public administration grad school at SUNY Albany, with the Peace Corps in West Africa, attending Union College and growing up in Hoosick Falls. Ironically, in all that time, I can’t say I was ever involved in any true conservation efforts….yet, here I am writing to you as the RLT President !

As a newly minted President, it seemed like a good idea to make myself a list of RLT’s activities and here is what I came up with. We have….easements to monitor… membership to grow…preserves to maintain…financial support to develop….outings to organize….a public to inform…grants to implement…publications to distribute….partnerships to develop…..an organization to run….social media presence to maintain….and (always) new ideas to explore. That’s an ambitious and important agenda that we can all be proud of.

I’m also impressed with the wide variety of people and backgrounds represented in our Board of Directors, our members and our overall community. On the upside, this leads to a continual progression of new ideas and projects that come our way from all directions. On the down side this can lead us to undertake more than our best intentions can realistically deliver (but that’s a topic for another time).

This is also a community that puts into practice an obvious but often neglected fact of life: if one wants something to happen in this world, one has to take some action. So, after you read this, go back up to my list of RLT activities, find something you value and enjoy, pick up the phone and take that action. We’ll all be glad we did and we will make a difference!

Bob Crowley
President

Caption: Bob Crowley, never afraid to get dirty on the job--pulling invasive water chestnuts from the Hoosic River.

THANK YOU to the MANY generous community members that took action this summer to help us reach our $99,000 fundraising goal to purchase the 76-acre property along Poesten Kill Creek in Troy and Brunswick. As we approached our September 1 deadline for the property sale closing, we had an unwavering response from passionate supporters who wanted this urban natural area protected. This is a huge victory for land conservation in our area, THANK YOU!

Rensselaer Land Trust and Rensselaer Plateau Alliance are now co-owners of this beautiful riparian and woodland habitat, the largest undeveloped forest block in Troy. This natural oasis is an excellent place to offer educational programs and recreational opportunities to our communities today and in the future.

Poesten Kill Bends is located along the south shore of the Poesten Kill and much of the area is floodplain of this mid-sized river. Protecting natural areas like this property is a climate resiliency* strategy that needs to happen locally and globally. Many southern coastal cities are evacuating this week in the face of Hurricane Dorian's destructive rains and flooding and even more close to home, many communities in the Capital District have been hit hard this past month with significant flooding from heavy rains and high winds. Extreme weather pattern changes are becoming our new normal–protecting natural areas like Poesten Kill Bends from development is a key solution in helping communities and nature adapt to our changing climate.

Thankfully we have the support of our communities to ensure our conservation efforts of today will be relevant in the years to come.

Read more: We did it! New Urban Nature Preserve at Poesten Kill Bends in Troy and Brunswick

Rensselaer Land Trust (RLT) is pleased to announce that it has received two NYS Conservation Partnership Program grants. The NYS Conservation Partnership Program is funded by the state’s Environmental Protection Fund and administered by the Land Trust Alliance, in coordination with the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

Rensselaer Land Trust will use a $20,000 grant to support the preparation and implementation of a three-year fundraising and outreach plan that will help the land trust become more financially sustainable and better poised to achieve its goals. The grant will also support the hiring of a AmeriCorps/VISTA member who joined RLT in February.

RLT will use a $9,000 grant to support the training and outfitting of the joint Rensselaer Land Trust/Rensselaer Plateau Alliance Trail Crew to work on trail construction and maintenance projects on land trust preserves that are open to the public.

Read more: RLT Receives Two New York State Conservation Partnership Program Grants