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Orange County Land Trust to Honor HV Biz at Harness Racing Museum Reception Middletown, NY (OCLT) Will Announce New Universal Access Trail Campaign The Orange County Land Trust will honor HV Biz at a cocktail party reception to be held from 5:30-7:30 pm on Thursday, October 23 at the Harness Racing Museum in Goshen. The Land Trust will present HV Biz with the Louis V. Mills Conservation Communications Award for excellence in writing in support of local agricultural businesses, farmland protection and other land conservation issues. "Through its editorial focus, HV Biz has been an active supporter of our working farms and local agricultural economy," said Deana Prisco, president of the Orange County Land Trust. "For their efforts, we consider them a valuable partner in the preservation of our open spaces here in Orange County and our shared agricultural heritage," she said. In addition to honoring HV Biz, the Land Trust will announce a fundraising campaign to kickoff its newest initiative in cooperation with Independent Living, Inc. The two nonprofits will partner to create a universal access natural history interpretive trail along a rail bed in the Land Trust's 250-acre Hamptonburgh Preserve. The1/2 mile trail will be designed to make a variety of woodland and wetland habitats accessible to people with disabilities, with interpretive signage-translated into Braille- providing information on the plants, animals and natural history of our region. It will lead to a viewing platform overlooking the Wallkill River. Refreshments and hors d'oeuvres will be served. Tickets are $35 per person and can be ordered by calling the Land Trust at 343-0840, x12 or online at www.oclt.org. A limited number of tickets will be available at the door. The Orange County Land Trust is a non profit organization founded by former county executive Louis Mills. It is the only county-wide land trust and to date has protected over 3,700 acres of land and working farms throughout the county. Working with landowners, the Land Trust's area of expertise is preserving land through the placement and monitoring of conservation easements, working with individual property owners and municipalities to secure funding for the purchase of development rights (PDR's), accepting donations of land, and purchasing land for open space. The Land Trust operates eight preserves in the county which are open to the public, free of charge, for hiking, birding and other forms of passive recreation. The Land Trust also partners with Orange County in helping implement the county's open space plan. For more information, and for volunteer opportunities, please visit the website at oclt.org. |
