DEC spreads green to Huyck Preserve and Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy
Enterprise file photo — Marcello Iaia
Trails at the Huyck Preserve in Rensselaerville have been heavily used during the pandemic, worsening issues with erosion and degradation. A state grant will allow the preserve to hire a professional trail designer to create a master plan to restore and improve the trails.
ALBANY COUNTY — This week, the Department of Environmental Conservation announced that $2.2 million in grant money has been given to various not-for-profit land trusts in New York State, including both the Edmund Niles Huyck Preserve and the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy.
The Huyck Preserve was awarded $44,075 from two grants — a Capacity Grant and a Transaction Grant — while the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy was awarded $33,710 from the DEC’s Professional Development Grant.
Mark King, executive director of the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy, told The Enterprise that the money will fund a part-time land steward over the summer. King said that it’s a three-year grant.
Anne Rhoads, executive director of the Huyck Preserve, told The Enterprise that the $11,100 Capacity Grant will cover indirect expenses that the organization incurred when it accepted a 23-acre land donation in February.
The property off of Pond Hill Road helps protect the watershed for Lake Myosotis, which supplies drinking water to the hamlet of Rensselaerville. The 23 acres includes a variety of habitats: mixed hardwood forest, wet meadow, shrub wetland, planted red pine forest, and an open field.
The Capacity Grant will fund the design phase for improvements to the Huyck Preserve’s trail system and a non-motorized boat launch on Lake Myosotis.
“The project,” Rhoads told The Enterprise, “uses a professional trail designer to create a master plan to restore and improve existing trails and the boat launch, design new signage and interpretive materials, and create a new digital trail map and updated paper trail map. We will also be seeking input from the community to inform our decisions.
“Even before the pandemic,” Rhoads said, “some of our trails had been degraded from erosion and heavy use. COVID-19 has brought a surge in visitors with approximately 4,500 people hiking our trails every month. This increased use exacerbated existing trail issues but also clearly showed how important our trails are as a place of respite and recreation for people in our community and across the Capital Region.”
