RENSSELAERVILLE — The Edmund Niles Huyck Preserve recently built an overlook on the Rensselaerville Falls, and will dedicate the new structure to Sybil and William Waldron, longtime supporters of the preserve, at an event this weekend. The Waldron estate donated $500,000 to the preserve last year, part of which paid for the overlook.

“The board of directors has decided that this gift is going to our endowment, and it will more than double the size of our endowment,” said Chad Jemison, executive director of the Huyck Preserve. “The use of the gift will be for programs that support the community, as well as preservation of land, and for the trail facilities. It could go to support trail projects, or the conservation of the preserve.”

The dedication will take place at the Huyck Preserve’s visitor center on Saturday, June 19, at 4 p.m., with a reception to follow. In addition, artist Robert Selkowitz will be discussing his work, currently showing at the visitor center. The event is scheduled to run until 6 p.m.

William Waldron was the nephew of the Huyck Preserve’s founder, Jessie Van Antwerp Huyck. Waldron died in April 2009, and he indicated in his will that he wanted the half-million-dollar gift go to the preserve, which resulted in the creation of the William and Sybil Waldron Fund.

In addition to being a conservation organization with about 2,000 acres, the Huyck Preserve is a biological research station, hosting scientists from across the country and, on occasion, from other countries, Jemison said.

“We’re looking to steward the Ten Mile Creek and the Myosotis Watershed,” he went on, “and we have outdoor recreational offerings, while maintaining six miles of trails.”

In addition, the preserve obtained a $50,000 grant last year from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation to build a six-mile trail that will connect the preserve to the Partridge Run Wildlife Management Area in Berne, and the Long Path, which runs from the George Washington Bridge outside of New York City, through the Catskills and Helderbergs to Altamont, and is envisioned to one day stretch to the Adirondacks. This new six-mile path will be constructed over the course of this fall and the following fall.

“Ultimately,” Jemison concluded, “for the Capital Region and the Hilltowns especially, we’re looking to connect people to nature.”