Three new conservation easements are scheduled to close in December, protecting more than 270 acres in the towns of Davenport, Exeter and Stark. Private landowners have a variety of reasons for working with Otsego Land Trust to conserve their land in perpetuity. OLT staff work with the property owners to identify the key conservation values and draft a legally-binding easement that expresses their vision for the land. Patrick Clearey, along with his wife Amy and their nieces and nephew, have chosen to protect the family’s 135-acre property in the town of Exeter with a conservation easement. Clearey recently explained his interest and motivation.

As the September full moon rose over the hill, more than 100 supporters of Otsego Land Trust gathered under a festive tent at June and Kent Barwick’s home in Cherry Valley. The Otsego Land Frolic was our culminating event, held to honor Otsego Land Trust’s many donors and landowners. Campbell Farm, the Barwicks’ privately-owned 218-acre property, has been protected forever through a conservation easement with Otsego Land Trust since 1998.

Earlier in the day, people gathered for guided nature walks on two other conservation easement properties in Cherry Valley. At the Solomon property, a 193-acre diverse farm and wetland landscape owned by Maria Camargo, participants learned about the ecological importance of wetlands and probed the pond for a peek at native amphibians. At Glensfoot Farm, a 508-acre farm owned by the Kingery, Schwartz and Wertenbaker clan, hikers learned how to spot a healthy forest and how to identify (and eradicate) invasive plants.

The Acorn Society is a select group of like-minded conservation leaders who have made provisions to support local conservation beyond their own lifetime. If you have already made arrangements for deferred giving to Otsego Land Trust, simply let me know so that we can acknowledge your commitment to the future. If you would like to learn more about how deferred giving might work, please reach out to me and we'll begin a conversation.

Stewardship is one of Otsego Land Trust’s most important responsibilities as we conserve land in perpetuity. Walking the land and chatting with the property owners, our annual visits ensure that forests, fields, wetlands and streams haven’t been adversely affected by human or natural forces.

In our ongoing effort to make nature more accessible to all residents, Otsego Land Trust offers a variety of recreational and educational opportunities. Each year we strive to improve our six public preserves – all of which are open for free public access and enjoyment from dawn to dusk daily.

Thoughtful landowners like you can ensure vibrant, successful, and healthy communities with good farmland, clean air, abundant water, and a high degree of climate resiliency. It’s a wonderful way to keep your land as healthy as it is today. We are so grateful for your partnership.

We hope this will eventually become a place where people can walk,” said Peggy Palmer as we finished a stroll through their 80-acre property nestled in the hills of Oneonta. “Hopefully people will enjoy it in the future,” she reflected.

Steep forested ridges and broad fertile valleys – that’s the landscape that defines the Upper Susquehanna watershed. Otsego Land Trust’s most recent easement, filed in March 2024, protects 248 acres of farmland at the confluence of two creeks in a scenic valley just outside the town of East Meredith.

Otsego Land Trust has been awarded $100,000 by the Department of Environmental Conservation through the New York State Conservation Partnership Program with the Land Trust Alliance. The grant will be used to develop a new walking trail and paddling launch on the north side of the Brookwood Point Conservation Area. “We are grateful to New York State and the Land Trust Alliance for their generous support,” said Gregory Farmer, executive director.

Farming is a way of life for many in our region, but low margins and changing weather patterns are a constant challenge to farmers. Some agricultural landowners have had to sell their land to developers for non-agricultural uses. Otsego Land Trust is dedicated to helping keep farmland in active agricultural use, preserving the farms that feed us and the pastoral landscape that defines our region.

They say it helps to have a project to dedicate yourself to in retirement, and for Kathleen and Timothy Peters, it’s the hundreds of trees and shrubs growing on their 22-acre property in Otsego County, New York.

What Kathleen refers to as her “baby forest” has been growing mostly since 2016, when the couple was accepted into the Upper Susquehanna Coalition’s (USC) Trees for Tributaries program. Funded by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, the program provides free tree planting and maintenance on properties that are within close proximity to a stream, river or lake.

Imagine an outdoor education center with miles of forested trails, lakefront access for canoes and kayaks, and programs for families and children throughout the year. That’s the vision that Otsego Land Trust has for reuse of the former BSA Camp Henderson property on Crumhorn Mountain in Milford.

There’s snow on the ground, but work is already underway to prepare the Brookwood Point Conservation Area for spring and summer use. The 22-acre conservation area two miles north of Cooperstown is a quiet refuge for residents and visitors with formal gardens, walking trails, and a natural launch area for canoes and kayaks. It has been owned and managed by Otsego Land Trust for public use since 2011.

“The first step in preparing the gardens this year was to remove the overgrown hemlocks along the east side,” said Gregory Farmer, executive director. The hemlock hedge was designed in the early 20th century to be about five feet high. Over the years, the trees had grown to 30 feet and were casting deep shade on the lawn and garden beds. The tight row of twenty hemlocks also increased the risk of infestation by the hemlock woolly adelgid, an invasive insect that attacks and kills North American hemlocks.

“THE GREENING OF GLIMMERGLASS: Frederic dePeyster Townsend’s personal lakeside paradise, Brookwood, remains relatively intact, powered by an avid taskforce of volunteers. It’s a small but potent evocation of the golden age of American country-house gardens.”

By Mitchell Owens

Over the past two months, a fledgling group has formed to take on the task of a natural resource inventory for Otsego County, representatives from Otsego Land Trust, SUNY Oneonta, and the town of Richfield Springs have organized the initial steps of a Regional Natural Resources Council, and a solid stakeholder group is taking shape. Representatives from Otsego 2000, Otsego Land Trust, Otsego County Conservation Association, County Soil and Water, Mohawk Valley Economic Development District, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, SUNY Oneonta, and Hartwick College are all on board.

We protect special spaces like Thayer Farm so that more of our community can learn from and connect with nature. Located along the west side of Otsego Lake, Thayer Farm has 256 acres of rolling hills, mature forest, trails, and active farmland that are under conservation easement with Otsego Land Trust. Thayer Farm is owned and operated by SUNY Oneonta and is a hub for student and faculty projects and research. Originally established by William Thayer and located within the Glimmerglass Historic District, the farm is used by the SUNY Oneonta Biological Field Station and houses natural history specimens, labs with microscopes galore, and even some graduate student rooms.

Otsquago Farm, Regenerative Agriculture

2023 was a year full of events!

Over one hundred property owners have conserved their special spaces through a conservation easement with Otsego Land Trust. Thoughtful landowners play a significant role in ensuring that current and future generations can enjoy vibrant, successful, and healthy communities with good farmland, clean air, abundant water, and a high degree of climate resiliency.

A conservation easement is a way for private property owners to protect the land while still retaining ownership. An easement is a legal document attached to a property’s deed and stays with the deed no matter who owns it in the future.

The easement has language that helps keep the land as is, especially restricting future activities that may have a negative effect on forests, wetlands, farms, scenic vistas, and open spaces. Otsego Land Trust works with the owners to monitor the easements annually and to enforce them if necessary.

We’ve been busy getting to work on real conservation projects, and our new staff members are out in the community making local conservation possible…