The DLC is thrilled to share the news of the conservation of 93 acres of vital forests, fields, and water resources in the Town of Pleasant Valley by Jason and Mary Elizabeth Page. Their dedication to land preservation reflects a profound understanding of the many ways that conservation enriches our lives and nurtures our ecosystems. The inspiring and permanent protection of their property ensures that streams, ponds, wetlands, and woodland pools will continue to provide clean water in the Wappinger Creek watershed and Hudson Valley. A vast tract of forest will stay in its natural state as home for a wide variety of trees and wildlife, while meadows will continue to provide a rich natural environment for a wide diversity of plants and animals.
The abundant and varied habitats found on the property serve as breeding and feeding grounds for a multitude of wildlife including butterflies, songbirds, bats, birds of prey, salamanders, turtles, flying squirrels, bobcats, and black bears. The woodlands, in particular, constitute but a portion of a contiguous forest that stretches for hundreds of acres and include a diverse assortment of trees, including red and sugar maples, gray and white birches, red and white oaks, eastern cedars, white pines, and eastern hemlocks. The water that flows and collects on this land comes in many shapes and forms. Streams flowing through meadows and down cool ravines help keep water oxygenated and provide important fish habitat, while the water that collects in the fens, swamps, vernal pools, and lake are crucial for water fowl and insects. Critically, the space between the forests and wetlands – the riparian areas and floodplain forests – provide habitat for a unique assemblage of plants and rare wetland animals, as well as an increasingly important area for bat foraging as their habitats dwindle.
Protection of this much land doesn’t happen without the forethought and insight of its owners and their desire to leave the natural world around them better than they found it. The concern of the Pages for the essential benefits provided by preserved land – clean water, fresh air, wildlife connectivity, sweeping views, and so much more – are a testament to their vision and that of the hundreds of landowners who have helped the DLC protect nearly 47,500 acres since 1985. We are so grateful to the landowners for the environmental and ecological legacy they are creating by forever conserving their property.
