Additional 259.8 Acres Protected and added to Sterling Forest State Park
The Orange County Land Trust recently completed the protection of 259.8
acres of Arrow Park lands in a cooperative 5.3 million dollar effort with the State of New York Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. These lands will be added to the adjacent Sterling Forest State Park and are in addition to the 145.6 acres of Arrow land previously protected by the Land Trust.
The new parcel includes 241 acres in the Town of Monroe and 18 acres in Tuxedo. The lands will all be managed by the Palisades Interstate Park Commission.
A total of 405.4 acres of Arrow Park land is now protected with the Orange County Land Trust playing the lead role in negotiating easements, purchase options and landowner agreements over a ten plus year period.
The success of the conservation effort was also due to the support of the Highlands Coalition, the New York New Jersey Trail Conference, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and other conservation organizations.
A remaining parcel of 75 plus acres is under active study as a center for programs for children and families by a consortium of non profit sponsors. Currently Calvary Hospital runs a summer camp on this land for children who have experienced the death of a family member. This bereavement program has served over 400 children since it was started 11 years ago.
Arrow has been the site of recent professional training programs for Orange County organizations working with veterans and their families. Prior programs and events have focused on children of war from Sierra Leone and recreational programs for children with special needs.
Recently, the Fire Department of New York’s Counseling Service Unit presented the Orange County Land Trust with an award for leading this successful 10-year campaign to protect Arrow’s land which includes an 80 acre FDNY memorial planting tract. Since 2002, the families of firefighters who lost their lives in the line of duty on 9/11 gather at Arrow Park for a tree planting ceremony and day of remembrance.
The Orange County Land Trust is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to preserve the fields, forests, wetlands, ridgelines and river corridors in and around Orange County through voluntary land conservation. Since 1993, the Land Trust has protected almost 3,500 acres of land in nearly every community in the county and one in Sullivan County. The Land Trust works with landowners who want to preserve their land, partners with other local conservation organizations, and helps implement the county’s Open Space Program to protect critical land and working farmland throughout Orange County. For more information and for volunteer opportunities and ways of donating to the Land Trust, contact us at (845) 343-0840 or visit the website at oclt.org.
