Hudson Highlands Land Trust Achieves 1000-Acre Milestone with Protection of Historic Putnam Valley Farm

Dick Perry has lived much of his life on the 100-acre farm on Peekskill Hollow Road that his family has owned for 123 years- since his great-grandparents Emily and Miles Perry moved there during the presidency of Chester Alan Arthur. "I love this land," he said as he stomped through the crusty snow on a mild Friday in early March, showing a visitor around. "I don't want to see it developed."

To make sure that never happens, last December Perry donated a conservation easement to the Hudson Highlands Land Trust. In doing so, he not only protected one of the prettiest pieces of land in Putnam Valley, he put the Land Trust across a significant threshold: with the addition of Dick Perry's donation, the Land Trust now holds conservation easements on more than 1,000 acres in the towns of Philipstown, Cortlandt and Putnam Valley.

The Perry farm straddles both Peekskill Hollow Road and the creek for which the road is named. At this time of year the creek is fast-flowing, frigid and deep. More water comes tumbling down from the high pastures where Dick Perry remembers going on summer evenings to fetch his parents' eight Guernseys in for milking.

It runs through the fields, drains under the road, reappears near the old barn and races towards its junction with the creek. To the north, the hills are higher- too steep to pasture anything but goats. Lower down, in the bottom land, that the creek cuts through, the fields are fairly flat- ideal for cutting hay or growing corn. Fieldstone walls run around their perimeter, and two antique hay rakes add to the feeling that you're standing on a farm that hasn't changed much since Emily and Miles bought it from Saxon Smith, a politician and judge. Dick Perry has a story about something that happened on just about every one of those acres. Standing on the creek "One thousand acres is a remarkable bank, he gestures in three directions:

"We had a picnic spot and a swimming hole here on the Creek. Over there, there was a gravel mine. Beyond it is a pond we drained to provide grasslands for the cows when the springs dried up in the high pastures in the summer. There were two rows of apple trees in that field yonder." Now in his mid-sixties, Perry knew his great-grandmother Emily: she died, aged 109, in 1951. She, in turn, could recall sending apples to Peekskill, where they were put on boats for shipment to New York. Milk and eggs were sold locally; in winter, the seven-mile trip to Peekskill was covered by sledge. The small powerhouse next to the main farmhouse still shelters a generator bought by Dick Perry's great-grandfather Miles in 1906.

"The Perry farm is not just a beautiful piece of land, it is also rich in history, and preserving historically significant properties is an important part of our mission" says HHLT Executive Director Andy Chmar. When it accepts donation of a conservation easement, the Land Trust must monitor the property to insure that the conditions laid out in the perpetual covenant are observed. "We hold our responsibility to steward the property in perpetuity as an obligation to both the original easement donor, as well as to the future generations who will be able to enjoy the land much as we see it today."

While the Land Trust now holds conservation easements on 1,000 acres, thanks to many concerned landowners like Dick Perry, this local group has, throughout its eighteen-year history, also worked with several important regional and national organizations to save other large parcels from development. achievement for a land trust of our size, but it's important to remember that conservation easements are one of a number of ways the Land Trust works to preserve land," says Lars Kulleseid, chair of the Land Trust's Land Preservation Committee. In Cortlandt, several HHLT directors led a fundraising effort and joined with the Town and Scenic Hudson to buy the proposed 352-acre Hillpoint development; which is now the Hudson Highlands Gateway Park. In Philipstown, working with the Open Space Institute and the Saunders family, the Land Trust helped to arrange conservation easements protecting most of the Saunders Farm along Old Albany Post Road.

Also in Philipstown, the Land Trust worked on the purchase by the Trust for Public Land of about 500 acres of land along Indian Brook Road that belonged to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Jacobson, which is now part of Fahnestock State Park. As Kulleseid noted, "We work well with bigger organizations to find preservation solutions for larger tracts, but the Land Trust's core mission is to help local property owners, like Dick Perry, who have a passion for preserving land."

The Hudson Highlands Land Trust seeks to protect the natural resources, rural character, and scenic beauty of the Hudson Highlands through land conservation, advocacy, environmental analysis, public education, and the promotion of sound, long-term planning. HHLT works closely with landowners, and groups of neighbors, who are interested in preserving their property for future generations. For more information, or to help as a volunteer, contact the Land Trust at 845- 4243358 or

info@hhlt.org, or visit their website at www.hhlt.org.