Middletown, NY (OCLT): Mary A. Yrizarry of Tuxedo has been elected President of the Orange County Land Trust, it was announced recently by Deanna J. Prisco, who served as Land Trust President since 2008.
Mrs. Yrizarry has a long and active history with the Orange County Land Trust, which was formed in 1993 to protect important natural areas and working farmland from being developed. First elected to the Land Trust Board of Directors in 1995, she has served as Vice President for the past two years and was chair of the Land Trust’s Fundraising Committee for three years.
The Board of Directors also appointed Marlena Lange of Middletown as Vice President and Mark Taylor, Esquire of Cornwall-on-Hudson, 2nd Vice President. Lester Lain of the Town of Minisink was elected Secretary of the Orange County Land Trust and Herb Stein of Washingtonville will continue as Land Trust Treasurer.
“There are countless important and historic natural resources throughout Orange County that are easy for many of us to take for granted,” said Mary. “Our job is to make sure that they will continue to be available for future generations to enjoy. Working with limited resources and funding is going to require creative solutions to land protection and I’m looking forward to this exciting challenge.”
Mary is a strong advocate for land preservation and was actively involved in the protection of thousands of acres of wildlife habitat in Sterling Forest. As Chair of the Sterling Forest Partnership, she was instrumental in helping to preserve the 569-acre “Hole in the Donut” that completed the final phase in the creation of Sterling Forest State Park. Mary is the retired Director of Adult Education at the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment. She and her husband John, an artist and naturalist, live in Tuxedo.
The Orange County Land Trust is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect the fields, forests, wetlands, ridgelines and river corridors in and around Orange County through voluntary land conservation for the benefit of people. To date, the Land Trust has helped protect almost 4,000 acres of land in communities throughout Orange County. For more information and for volunteer opportunities and ways of giving, please visit the website at www.oclt.org.
