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| May 05, 2024 |
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General News: Group Preserves Open Space in Cornwall
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| The preserved land lies near Schunnemunk mountain. |
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| View of Houghton Farm by Winslow Homer courtesy of the National Gallery of Art |
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| The orange area shows the newly-acquired land. |
September 12, 2010
A 151-acre parcel along Route 32 in Cornwall has been acquired by the Open Space Institute, part of the group’s effort to preserve a conservation corridor between Black Rock Forest and Schunnemunk Mountain State Park.
The land used to belong to Houghton farm, which was part of a 1,000-experimental farm where the artist Winslow Homer spent the summers of 1878 and 1879 producing more than 150 watercolors and paintings of the farm and the surrounding area.
A portion of the historic farm now lies under the New York State Thruway, while another portion is part of Schunnemunk Mountain State Park and the Black Rock Fish & Game Club. The remaining, just-acquired 151 acres include several fields running along the straightaway on Route 32 that boast stunning views of Schunnemunk Mountain and a stretch of Woodbury Creek.
Focus on Ecological Diversity
The Open Space Institute purchased the land as part of its effort to preserve the ecologically diverse environment that can be found in the highlands and Hudson River basin. In the 1990s, the institute helped protect 23,000 acres in Schunnemunk Mountain State Park and Sterling Forest State Park. Both parks are largely intact native forest ecosystems that provide natural habitat for bears, bobcats, coyotes and otters, as well as flora such as chestnut-oak forests and pitch pines.
Bill Schuster, the executive director of the Black Rock Forest Consortium praised the effort to create a conservation corridor between Schunnemunk and Black Rock. “It’s great to have OSI to invest and preserve,” he said in a brief interview. “The corridor allows animals to migrate between environments and, over time, it increases their viability and keeps them from being endangered.
The institute intends to acquire 32 additional acres adjacent to Black Rock Forest in the near future.
Comments:
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Wendell,
There is a lot of great research and data that suggests that open space and in particular agriculture reduces the cost of infrastructure in comparison to development (residential). Therefore less need for services, no road maintenance - if its a farm, no need for police, fire etc. The American Farmland Trust has some of this data. Now its preserved forever as open space - great work OSI and its partners! thank you.
posted by j h on 09/14/10 at 12:10 PM
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