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A Message from our President
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As 2024 draws to an end, I reflect with tremendous gratitude on all you have helped us to achieve since 1983 – over 14,000 acres conserved. Together, we demonstrate the power of local action to protect our communities’ working farms, natural resources, and sense of place.
If you haven’t done so already this year (or even if you have!), please consider renewing your support of our 2024 Annual Fund. We have so many conservation opportunities at stake. But we need your help to translate these opportunities into conservation successes. Without your help today, parcels like these could be lost forever to development:
- Southampton: Farms, woodland habitats, and sacred land in Shinnecock Hills.
- Southold: Woodlands and wetlands on Peconic Bay; working farms.
- East Hampton: Waterfront properties on fragile coastal ponds.
- Riverhead: Forests, bluffs, farmland, and endangered habitats at risk.
- Shelter Island:Wooded habitat and shoreline parcels.
- Brookhaven: Horse farms, potential greenways, and historic properties.
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Thanks again for your invaluable support! Please be in touch at any time with questions or concerns. I wish you and yours a safe and happy 2025.Yours,
John v.H. Halsey
PresidentP.S. The Trust is a privately funded 501(c)(3) charitable organization that depends on people like you to conserve what we know and love. If you own property on the East End, please note that the Trust does not collect or distribute the funds from the 2% real estate transfer tax, also known as the Peconic Bay Region Community Preservation Fund. |
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Farms for the Future Initiative Is Growing
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As the waning days of the 2024 growing season are behind us, we have a lot to celebrate. This year, we expanded the percentage of farmland that we own into active leases with the farming community – both new farmers and established – leasing 371.12 acres of land to 35 farming operations. Farmers leasing land from the Trust are growing an incredible mix of agricultural products, from vegetables, flowers, and fruit, to livestock, bees, and snails. We have also sold, and are in the process of selling, productive farmland in Southold along the Oregon Road corridor to qualified farmers thanks to the
Trust’s acquisition of 192 acres from Mattituck Farm Holdings, owned by the Bacon Family Trust. To date, we have resold 81 of those acres to qualified farmers, including Sang Lee Farms and Sannino Vineyards. We are in the process of selling an additional 81 acres through a new Request for Proposal process and have plans to lease 30 acres to farm operations, including graduates from our incubator farm program at Charnews Farm. We thank the Bacon Family Trust and Mattituck Farm Holdings for ensuring that these acres will be available for farming in perpetuity and for their belief in the Trust to carry this vision into the future.
We added to our successes in April with the acquisition of 27 acres of farmland in Bridgehampton, which is currently in the process of being resold to farmers. Neighbors and the Town of Southampton provided the funding necessary to make it happen.
Click here to read more.
Stay tuned for more exciting news in the new year.
Click here to read the latest article about Tim Curry, one of the farmers in the incubator program.
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Connecting You to People and Places
Building Community for over 20 Years
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| When you were young, did you make memories visiting local parks to play ball or catch a frisbee, exploring woodland trails for birds or salamanders, going to the beach to look for seashells or launch a kayak, visiting a farm to get your pumpkin or pick apples with your family?If you did, you very likely understand the value of preserving Long Island’s beautiful environment. But for those without these formative experiences, there’s a good chance that conserving working farms, natural areas, pristine beaches, ponds and woodlands are a low priority, or possibly not even on their radar. Why should people care about our work if they haven’t experienced the benefits, the joys, and the stories of the places we’ve helped conserve? Such was the realization of the Trust in 2004.
That was the year we began a series of introspective meetings of our newly created Strategic Visioning Committee comprised of several staff and Board members interested in helping plan for the foreseeable future of the Trust. We realized there were many people across Long Island who didn’t really know what a Land Trust was, what the work of the Peconic Land Trust was all about, the challenges we faced, and why they should help us. Experiencing the land, meeting the farmers, paddling the waters, and enjoying restorative time in nature was missing from their daily life.
Click here to read the full story. |
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We Would Love To Hear Your Feedback!
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Our “Connections” activities are designed to connect you with nature and share the benefits of local working farms, woodlands, beaches, and waterways. As we plan for future activities, please respond to a short survey. Your feedback is very valuable as we plan for next year!The survey will take less than five minutes to complete. Please respond no later
than December 31, 2024, and feel free to contact Kathy Kennedy, Senior Manager
of Outreach at KKennedy@PeconicLandTrust.org if you have any questions or additional feedback to share. Thank you in advance for your participation! We appreciate your time and opinions. |
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Peconic Land Trust in the News
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Our Fall Newsletter is out!
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You make our work possible. Thank you!
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Peconic Land Trust | 631.283.3195 | Info@PeconicLandTrust.org
Peconic Land Trust conserves Long Island’s working farms, natural lands, and heritage for our communities now and in the future. To learn more, visit us online at www.PeconicLandTrust.org.
The Peconic Land Trust is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The majority of our support comes from our donors! We do not receive the 2% real estate transfer tax. Click here to learn more.
Financial Disclosure Statement: A copy of the last financial report filed with the New York State Attorney General may be obtained in writing to: New York State Attorney General’s Charities Bureau, Attn: FOIL Officer, 28 Liberty Street, New York, NY 10005 or Peconic Land Trust.
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