Recent News

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.

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.

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.

The Rensselaer Land Trust, with the help of volunteers from the Junior National Honor Society, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Appalachian Mountain Club, Town of Hoosic Falls, and individuals from the community, planted 300 trees at our Hoosic River public boat launch and fishing access site on Saturday, May 8, 2010. Special thanks are due to Brunswick Agway on RT 7 for donating tree fertilizer and to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for the trees. The site is located between Buskirk and Eagle Bridge on RT 67 in Northern Rensselaer County. The property is owned in fee by the Rensselaer Land Trust with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation holding the public access and fishing rights easement. This project is an example of what small local land trusts, such as the Rensselaer Land Trust, working in cooperation with the State and local communities can achieve for the benefit of the people of Rensselaer County and the State of New York.