Mohawk River Community Partners Merges With Mohawk-Hudson Land Conservancy
Published:
For Immediate Release
February 6, 2012
Contact Information:
Lea Montalto-Rook, Development Director
518-436-6346
Mohawk River Community Partners Merges
With Mohawk-Hudson Land Conservancy
Mohawk River Community Partners of Colonie (MRCP), organized to revitalize that town’s more than 10 miles of waterfront, has merged with the Mohawk Hudson Land Conservancy (MHLC), a Slingerlands based conservation group with preserves in Albany, Schenectady, and Montgomery counties. MRCP will become a committee of MHLC, a much larger non-profit celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
MRCP Committee Chair John Razzano is confident the merger will benefit both organizations, “The Conservancy is an established group with more than 500 members and this merger comes at an exciting time as new projects are planned. We hope MRCP will be able to assist the Town of Colonie in the development of a new park that the Town has planned for site of the old water filtration plant near the bike path. Along with demolishing the unsightly old treatment plant building, this park will provide additional access to a beautiful part of Colonie’s waterfront.”
“Since 1992, the Conservancy has been saving special places primarily in southern Albany County,” says MHLC’s President Judy Thomson. “As we celebrate our 20th anniversary, we’re excited to welcome MRCP, and look forward to saving special places in Colonie like their Mohawk waterfront.”
To date, MHLC has protected 2,500 acres of land and is always looking for more acreage to preserve. Currently, MHLC is working on a project to protect important habitat near Indian Ladder Farms.
Over the past eight years, MRCP has helped formulate the town’s comprehensive plan, studied river silting and water chestnut removal, held meetings to get public input on planning projects, won grants to make safety improvements to the bike path, and erected kiosks displaying environmental and historical information. They also held several river festivals in partnership with the town and other environmental and community organizations.
MHLC is a private, not-for-profit organization, dedicated to preserving the distinct natural, scenic, agricultural, and cultural landscapes of the Mohawk and Hudson valleys. We do this by owning and managing land, and working with landowners to assure their lands are protected for future generations. Of particular importance are areas protecting wildlife habitat, watersheds, scenic vistas, hiking and biking trails, working landscapes, and cultural lands.
