Dear
Friends:
The
past few months have been filled with a flurry of activity on several
fronts. First and
foremost,
we agreed to work in partnership with Open Space Institute to leverage
our ability to
expand
our efforts to preserve open space in our region along the Route 209
corridor. We have
increased
our cooperation with other regional land trusts to share resources,
ideas, and talent in
order
to further our important mission. We are very excited by these
prospects and look forward
to
expanding our efforts, both in terms of geographic reach and the
density of easements in our
existing
service area.
On
a practical note, we have intensified our monitoring of our existing
conservation easement
properties
with a goal of visiting 100% of our easement properties this year. We
are updating
our
easement baseline reports, with extensive documentation of the flora,
fauna and an inventory
natural
characteristics of many of our easement properties.
Our
commitment to our mission has not diminished since our organization
was founded 20 years
ago.
We have become the largest land conservancy in Ulster County, after
Mohonk Preserve, in
terms
of acreage under protection and the number of easements held. We are
proud of this
growth
and believe it forms a strong base for further growth. None of this
would be possible
without
the continuing support of generous donors.
In
the past few months, our financial resources (like yours, perhaps)
have been diminished by the
recent
turbulence in the stock market. We rely on dividend and interest
income to fund a large
portion
of our annual operating expenses, and count on contributions from
members and friends
to
fund the remainder.
As
the Spring approaches, may we ask you to please consider
making a tax-deductible
contribution
to help us continue to protect open space in our beautiful region.
Sincerely,
Walter
Levy
President