Orange County Land Trust names director of conservation and stewardship

MIDDLETOWN — The Orange County Land Trust Board of Directors has named Christopher Kenyon as the trust’s director of conservation and stewardship. In joining the staff of the Orange County Land Trust, Kenyon will be responsible for the stewardship of 35 protected lands, as well as working to conserve additional land in Orange County. With the help of volunteers, he will work to improve trails and public access on Land Trust preserves. He will collaborate with a variety of other nonprofit organizations and governmental agencies in accomplishing this work. Prior to joining Orange County Land Trust, Kenyon, of Highland, was parks and stewardship manager at Scenic Hudson where he was responsible for the management of more than 40 conserved properties, over half of which were open to the public as parks. He has also previously worked as a seasonal Park Ranger for the National Park Service on the Upper Delaware River and interned for the Nature Conservancy and the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. He is a graduate of the University of Connecticut. The Land Trust has helped protect nearly 4,000 acres of land, including ten working farms. Working with landowners, the trust’s area of expertise is preserving land through the placement of conservation easements, working with individual property owners and municipalities to secure funding for the purchase of development rights, accepting donations of land, and purchasing land for public access. The Land Trust owns and manages ten nature preserves in Orange County, seven which are open to the public, free of charge, for hiking birding and other forms of passive recreation. For more information, and for volunteer opportunities and ways of giving to the Orange County Land Trust, visit www.oclt.org or call 845-343-0840.