Bedford-Based Preservation Group Helps Protect Drinking Water in the Hudson Highlands

Two regional conservation organizations and a local family are working together to create a new nature preserve in Putnam Valley that will help protect Peekskill’s and Cortlandt’s drinking water.

What will be called the O’Connell Boulder Field Preserve is a donation of two parcels of land from the estate of William O. O’Connell.

The 31 acres will be owned by the Bedford-Hills based Westchester Land Trust, with a permanent conservation easement from the Hudson Highlands Land Trust, based in Garrison.

“Our father loved this property and cared for it for many years,” Mary O’Connell, co-executrix of her father’s estate with her sister Margaret, said in a press release. “By creating this preserve you have given our father a great legacy.”

The preserve is in a National Heritage Area that is also classified a Significant Landscape Area; moreover, it will be contiguous with more than 346 acres of wildlife habitat protected by both conservation organizations, some of it private property.

“Protecting the Preserve was a major priority for both our conservation organizations because of the historical significance and the environmental benefits it affords the community,” said WLT President Lori Ensinger.

The new Preserve on Barger Street features upland woods, a prominent rock outcropping and extensive wetlands. There is the potential for a 1.5 mile trail. Signage will be posted soon, WLT officials said.