Open Space Institute (OSI) is a conservation organization that protects land for clean drinking water, public recreation, healthy communities, wildlife habitat, and climate protection. [1] Established in 1974, OSI achieves its goals through land acquisition, [2] fiscal sponsorship, [1] regional loan and grant programs, [3] park and trail improvements, [4] and public policy and advocacy. [5] OSI is active across the country, including the states of New York, [6] Vermont, [3] New Hampshire, [7] Maine, [8] Georgia, [9] South Carolina, [10] Virginia, [11] Tennessee, [12] New Jersey, [13] Massachusetts, [14] Pennsylvania, [15] Alabama, [16] West Virginia, [17] North Carolina, [18] and Florida. [19]
OSI provides grants and low-cost bridge loans to land trusts, other nonprofit groups, and public agencies for more effective and resilient land protection in selected regions of the eastern United States. [20] [15] OSI also provides financial awards for young leaders interested in pursuing conservation careers. [21]
OSI acquires and transfers land and conservation easements for permanent land protection. [22] They work closely with local, state, and federal agencies to protect land for communities, wildlife and water. [23] OSI aims to connect fragmented landscapes to protect wildlife habitat, expand recreational spaces, and preserve water quality. [24]
OSI collaborates with public entities such as NY State Parks and the Department of Conservation to improve access to open spaces. [25] OSI specializes in Greenway Trails, converting abandoned rail lines to multi-purpose trails. [26] OSI also manages lands that they own in fee or easement. [12]
OSI conducts research and produces publications in different mediums to inform policymakers, other land trusts, and the public about the benefits of land protection, including the protection of natural resources in the face of climate change and improved access to outdoor spaces for underresourced communities. [5]
OSI fiscally sponsors environmentally-focused grassroots organizations by providing financial and legal oversight. [1] With OSI’s financial and legal oversight, these groups are eligible to receive grants and tax-deductible contributions and can focus on their programming and capacity-building. [1] The participants have ranged from community gardens and land trusts, to environmental educators and promoters of nature-based arts and activities. [27] [28]
The Mohonk Preserve is a nature preserve in the Shawangunk Ridge, 90 miles (140 km) north of New York City in Ulster County, New York. The preserve has over 8,000 acres (32 km2) of cliffs, forests, fields, ponds and streams, with over 70 miles (110 km) of carriage roads and 40 miles (64 km) of trails for hiking, cycling, trail running, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and horseback riding. It is also a major destination for rock climbers, hosting 50,000 climbers each year who enjoy more than 1,000 climbing routes.
The Shawangunk Ridge, also known as the Shawangunk Mountains or The Gunks, is a ridge of bedrock in Ulster County, Sullivan County and Orange County in the state of New York, extending from the northernmost point of the border with New Jersey to the Catskills. The Shawangunk Ridge is a continuation of the long, easternmost section of the Appalachian Mountains; the ridge is known as Kittatinny Mountain in New Jersey, and as Blue Mountain as it continues through Pennsylvania. This ridge constitutes the western border of the Great Appalachian Valley.
Sam's Point Preserve, or Sam's Point Dwarf Pine Ridge Preserve, is a 4,600-acre (19 km2) preserve in Ulster County on the highest point of the Shawangunk Ridge in New York, on the Wawarsing, New York-Shawangunk town line. It is owned and managed by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation after having previously been managed by The Nature Conservancy. Its unique environment features dwarf pitch pine trees along the ridgetop. Located within the park is Lake Maratanza, the highest lake on the ridge, and the Ellenville Fault Ice Caves.
The New York – New Jersey Trail Conference (NYNJTC) is a volunteer-based federation of approximately 10,000 individual members and about 100 member organizations. The conference coordinates the maintenance of 2,000 miles of foot trails around the New York metropolitan area, from the Delaware Water Gap, north to beyond the Catskill Mountains, including the Appalachian Trail through New York and New Jersey. It also works to protect open space and publishes books and trail maps. The organization's headquarters are at 600 Ramapo Valley Road, Mahwah, New Jersey.
The Minnewaska State Park Preserve is a 22,275-acre (90.14 km2) preserve located on the Shawangunk Ridge in Ulster County, New York on US 44/NY 55, five miles (8.0 km) west of New York State Route 299. The park, which features scenic overlooks of the nearby Catskill Mountains, is primarily used for picnicking, hiking, mountain biking, snowshoeing and swimming. The park is managed by the Palisades Interstate Park Commission and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
Sterling Forest State Park is a 21,938-acre (88.78 km2) state park located in the Ramapo Mountains in Orange County, New York. Established in 1998, it is among the larger additions to the New York state park system in the last 50 years.
The Shawangunk Grasslands National Wildlife Refuge is a wildlife refuge located in Ulster County, New York, United States. Formerly the Galeville Military Airport, it was decommissioned in 1994 and turned over to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in 1999. It serves as a waypoint for grassland-dependent migratory birds.
Conservation development, also known as conservation design, is a controlled-growth land use development that adopts the principle for allowing limited sustainable development while protecting the area's natural environmental features in perpetuity, including preserving open space landscape and vista, protecting farmland or natural habitats for wildlife, and maintaining the character of rural communities. A conservation development is usually defined as a project that dedicates a minimum of 50 percent of the total development parcel as open space. The management and ownership of the land are often formed by the partnership between private land owners, land-use conservation organizations and local government. It is a growing trend in many parts of the country, particularly in the Western United States. In the Eastern United States, conservation design has been promoted by some state and local governments as a technique to help preserve water quality.
The Trust for Public Land is a U.S. nonprofit organization with a mission to "create parks and protect land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come". Since its founding in 1972, the Trust for Public Land has completed 5,000 park-creation and land conservation projects across the United States, protected over 3 million acres, and helped pass more than 500 ballot measures—creating $70 billion in voter-approved public funding for parks and open spaces. The Trust for Public Land also researches and publishes authoritative data about parks, open space, conservation finance, and urban climate change adaptation. Headquartered in San Francisco, the organization is among the largest U.S. conservation nonprofits, with approximately 30 field offices across the U.S., including a federal affairs function in Washington, D.C.
The Wallkill Valley Rail Trail is a 22.5-mile (36.2 km) rail trail and linear park that runs along the former Wallkill Valley Railroad rail corridor in Ulster County, New York. It stretches from Gardiner through New Paltz, Rosendale and Ulster to the Kingston city line, just south of a demolished, concrete Conrail railroad bridge that was located on a team-track siding several blocks south of the also-demolished Kingston New York Central Railroad passenger station. The trail is separated from the Walden–Wallkill Rail Trail by two state prisons in Shawangunk, though there have been plans to bypass these facilities and to connect the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail with other regional rail-trails. The northern section of the trail forms part of the Empire State Trail.
Connecticut River Greenway State Park is a protected environment with public recreation features that consists of separate state land holdings, including open spaces, parks, scenic vistas, and archaeological and historic sites, along the Connecticut River in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts. The state park includes critical wildlife and plant habitat as well as areas providing public access to the river in its run across the state and is intertwined with other protected land including farmland under state-held agricultural preservation restrictions, municipal and conservation land trust holdings, and state and national wildlife refuges.
Commonwealth Connections is a greenway and conservation initiative co-developed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), the National Park Service, and over fifty trail and land conservation agencies and non-profit organizations. Begun in 1999, the initiative was designed to create "a coordinated greenway and trail network that will help conserve important resources, provide recreation and alternative transportation opportunities close to where people live, and connect communities throughout Massachusetts."
Joshua's Tract Conservation and Historic Trust, or Joshua's Trust, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) land trust operating in northeast Connecticut. Joshua's Trust was incorporated in 1966 to help conserve property of significant natural or historic interest. As of 2011, the Trust protects more than 5,000 acres, maintains 42 miles of trails that are open to the public, holds educational outreach programs, and publishes the Joshua's Tract Walkbook.
Florida Ecological Greenways Network work to provide a "system of native landscapes and ecosystems that supports native plant and animal species, sustains clean air, water, fisheries, and other natural resources, and maintains the scenic natural beauty that draws people to visit and settle in Florida," as stated Florida Greenways Commission. It also functions to devise a plan for a statewide greenways system, based on GIS technology and suggestions from the public. The GIS data used includes soil, water, and geological information, wildlife movements and habitat data, as well as existing trails and parks, transportation and infrastructure fixtures, educational and historical sites, and political boundaries. This system would be created in accordance with the December 1994 report from the Florida Greenways Commission to the Governor of the state of Florida, a report which outlined the protocol for creating it. Such a system would connect all aspects of the state's "green infrastructure", making it more comprehensive for use by the state's citizens and more effective in achieving greater sustainability throughout the state of Florida for generations to come.
Bennett's Pond State Park is a public recreation area located in the town of Ridgefield, Connecticut. The state park occupies a portion of the estate once owned by industrialist Louis D. Conley. The park features the 56-acre pond for which it is named and many miles of hiking trails in a pristine woodland environment. It is contiguous with Wooster Mountain State Park and is crossed by the Ives Trail. In addition to hiking, the park offers fishing, biking, and seasonal bow hunting. It is managed by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.
Scenic Hudson is a non-profit environmental organization in New York that protects land, creates, and enhances parks, and advocates for environmentally responsible policies and development practices.
The Land Trust for Tennessee is an American non-profit conservation organization working to protect Tennessee's natural, scenic and historic landscapes and sites. Since 1999, The Land Trust has partnered to conserve more than 131,000 acres (530 km2) of land across 65-plus Tennessee counties.
The Big Sur Land Trust is a private 501(c)(3) non-profit located in Monterey, California, that has played an instrumental role in preserving land in California's Big Sur and Central Coast regions. The trust was the first to conceive of and use the "conservation buyer" method in 1989 by partnering with government and developers to offer tax benefits as an inducement to sell land at below-market rates. Since 1978, with the support of donors, funders and partners, it has conserved over 40,000 acres through conservation easements, acquisition and transfer of land to state, county and city agencies. It has placed conservation easements on 7,000 acres and has retained ownership of over 4,000 acres.
California Proposition 68 was a legislatively referred constitutional amendment that appeared on ballots in California in the June primary election in 2018. It was a $4.1bn bond measure to fund parks, environmental projects, water infrastructure projects and flood protection measures throughout California.
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