A primary effort of the Schoharie Land Trust is maintaining sizeable areas of relatively undeveloped open space. This helps our goal of protecting and preserving the rural quality of the county, and maximizes benefits of wildlife habitat.
The value of conservation easements on individual parcels can be increased when contiguous or neighboring parcels are protected. This is the case with the three properties that make up the Cornell Hollow Preserve in the Town of Gilboa. The Becher, Thall and White properties total 319 acres and constitute a significant piece of land that will remain largely intact in perpetuity, under agreements with the land trust.
Large portions of the preserve are in agricultural use which provides pleasing landscapes as well as benefiting the farm economy of the county.
We encourage landowners to solicit their neighbors to consider conservation easements on their lands to create this type of multi-owner conglomeration of protected open space.
