ALBANY COUNTY — The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation announced on Monday that the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy, the Northeastern Cave Conservancy, and the Huyck Preserve and Biological Research Station are among the groups that have been awarded grants through its Conservation Partnership Program, which it oversees with the Land Trust Alliance.

Mohawk Hudson received $45,860 as a capacity grant; the Huyck Preserve got $50,000 as a stewardship and resource management grant; and the Cave Conservancy received $8,229 as a transaction grant.

“Our capacity grant will help with a complete redesign of our website, video production for web and social media, a small amount of paid online advertising, assistance in the implementation of our new strategic plan and in particular, supporting programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion,” Mohawk Hudson Executive Director Mark King told The Enterprise this week. 

The Huyck Preserve, meanwhile, will use its money to help fund a project aimed at monitoring and managing invasive species, Executive Director Anne Rhoads said. 

“The current project will begin an integrated pest management pilot study as a potential long-term solution to treatment for the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid,” she said. “It will also include an early detection survey for emerging invasive plants and will create a native garden at the Preserve’s Visitors’ Center to teach the public about the value of native plants.”

Rhoads added that this is the first time the preserve has applied for funding in the resource-management category.

Northeast Cave Conservancy President Bob Simmons told The Enterprise that his group’s award will be put toward “survey and legal costs associated with the donation of 4.76 acres of land which was combined into our existing preserve” in Clarksville.

Quoting from the conservancy’s application for the grant, Simmons said in an email, “Clarksville Cave is the most popular recreational undeveloped (wild) cave in the northeastern USA. The Cave is used by bats as a winter hibernaculum. New York State Species of Greatest Conservation Need have been observed in the cave and include the Little Brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus), and the Eastern pipistrelle (Perimyotis subflavus), also known as the Tri-Colored Bat. 

“The SGCN and Federally Threatened Northern myotis (Myotis septentrionalis), also known as the Northern Long-Eared Bat, has been reported in the cave historically,” he said. “...The combined 18.93 acre parcel now stretches some 2000 feet north to south and protects approximately 97% of the entire accessible cave passages and all usable entrances. This control will allow for better management of the Preserves resources and prevent any future development of the surface overlying the cave."

The cave conservancy also received an additional $11,600 for similar costs related to a property in Ulster County.