Wolf and Reese Preserves Receive Grants from the Conservation Partnership Program

Last month, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in partnership with the Land Trust Alliance awarded 69 grants to 50 NY land trusts through its Conservation Partnership Program (CPP). This included two grants to the Peconic Land Trust for woodland projects in Southold. The CPP is funded through the State’s Environmental Protection Fund.

Wolf Preserve Accessible Trail: A Stewardship & Resource Management Grant of $34,500 was awarded to further the Trust’s program of improving trail access to the preserve. The improvements will make the preserve more accessible to those with disabilities. The new accessible trail system at Wolf will eventually cross freshwater wetlands, meadows, and woodlands. Community groups, including the Greenport and Southold School Districts have shown support for the project. The Trust has worked with educators at the Greenport School District for many years at the Trust’s Widow’s Hole Preserve.

In a letter of support for the grant application, David Gamberg, former Superintendent of Schools at both the Greenport and Southold Union Free School Districts wrote, “We applaud the creativity of a proposed accessible trail development project, something that is severely lacking on the East End of Long Island. A project like the proposed Wolf Preserve Accessible Trail System would positively impact not only Greenport students, but all students and community members that call the North Fork home.”

Harold A. Reese Preserve Protection: $44,000 was awarded through a Conservation Transaction Grant to cover some of the costs of this recent woodland acquisition, which the Trust completed in December 2020. Adjacent to the Trust’s Wolf Preserve, the protection of these woodlands and wetlands expands the preserve area on the ecologically sensitive Hog Neck Peninsula. The Trust plans to extend the accessible trail system at Wolf into the newly acquired woodlands.

Do you want to help? The Trust is currently fundraising for both the accessible trail system and the acquisition costs of Reese. Visit PeconicLandTrust.org/Give to make your gift today.

Click here for more information about the Wolf Preserve. You can also contact Matt Swain, Director of Stewardship, or Alison Delaney, Development Officer.

The Wolf Preserve is part of the Trust’s Wildlife Management Program. The preserve will reopen to the public on February 1^st, 2021. Please visit the kiosk, located at the preserve’s entrance on Main Bayview Road, for times when the trails may be closed to the public.