Westchester Land Trust to preserve 24 acres near Yorktown’s Turkey Mountain

A 24-acre patch of land adjacent to the Turkey Mountain Preserve in Yorktown will be preserved as the result of a partnership between the Westchester Land Trust, Yorktown Land Trust and the town.

The Westchester Land Trust announced it had recently acquired the land and will hold it as a preserve open to the community. The town of Yorktown, meanwhile, will hold a conservation easement on the property, ensuring it will remain a nature preserve.

The 24-acre parcel will help create a 550-acre contiguous corridor of permanently protected forest and wetland that adjoins other protected lands owned and managed by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.

The 125-acre Turkey Mountain Preserve is owned by the Town of Yorktow and features public hiking trails.

Westchester Land Trust Vice President Kara Whelan said the land trust “will manage our new preserve as an extension of the Turkey Mountain Preserve. We have plans to construct a new trail that links directly to the existing trail network at Turkey Mountain.”

The land was bought using funds from the Westchester and Yorktown land trusts, as well as from the John T. and Jane A. Wiederhold Foundation, Town of Yorktown and private donors.