Alumni Internship: Columbia County Land Conservancy – New York
*If you want more information about this BCEP graduate’s internship experience or want to get in touch with a student/alum, please contact Caroline Ramaley at [email protected].
Organization: Columbia County Land Conservancy
Location: Chatham, New York
Student Name and Class Year: Brett Sykes, 2015
Organization description: The Columbia Land Conservancy (CLC) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and relies on the financial support of individuals.
Mission: The Columbia Land Conservancy works with the community to conserve the farmland, forests, wildlife habitat, and rural character of Columbia County, strengthening connections between people and the land.
Highlights:
Permanently protected 29,500 acres of land; CLC holds conservation easements and performs annual monitoring on 22,900 acres – 25% of all privately conserved land in the Hudson Valley and 60% in the Capital Region.
Established 5,750 acres of public land and manages 10 Public Conservation Areas.
Helped secure over $7 million dollars to ensure the protection of 5,800 acres of working farmland.
Created an agricultural program that promotes working farms and provides logistical support, including a successful match program with 25 farms on over 1,000 acres of land (as of June 2012).
Assisted with open space and trail development, conservation planning and agriculture issues throughout the County, including workshops and conferences, coordinating funding initiatives, and fostering partnerships among towns, county government, and allied conservation organizations.
Developed an environmental educational program that worked with 4,000 participants in 2012.
