Westchester Land Trust (WLT), a nationally accredited land conservation nonprofit headquartered in Bedford Hills, New York, recently received an anonymous $100,000 grant to support efforts to improve forest health and combat the many challenges threatening trees across the region.
Forested landscapes throughout Westchester County and beyond are facing increasing struggles, with pests and diseases decimating many of most common trees. In just the last decade, ash trees have become functionally extinct across much of the region. Over the last century, entire tree species, like chestnut, elm and hemlocks, have mostly been erased from the landscape, and beech may be next, due to the emerging spread of beech leaf disease.
When mature trees die off or are damaged, young trees are prevented from taking their place because invasive plants from Europe and Asia seize the opportunity to invade and outcompete native plants for resources. Adding to the pressure, Westchester’s forests are severely overgrazed by an unsustainably large deer population, limiting natural tree regeneration. These threats leave forests vulnerable to other stressors, like climate change, which often brings extreme weather events like drought one year, deluges of rain the next, and high winds.
“Although there’s no shortage of challenges facing our forests, this transformative grant will play a crucial role in improving the natural places that sustain our communities,” said Kara Whelan, president of Westchester Land Trust. “By taking action now, we can ensure that future generations have trees to shade them, filter the air they breathe, and protect the clean water they drink. We’re grateful to our visionary anonymous donor and the many volunteers who are helping to bring this work to life.”
The six-figure investment will support an ambitious plan to restore the health of WLT’s forested preserves, including vine cutting at 60 targeted areas across 13 preserves to relieve trees of a massive stressor and freeing up their strength to stand tall against other threats; planting 450 trees this spring and fall at 11 preserves; erecting a 10-acre deer fence at WLT’s Frederick P. Rose Preserve (Lewisboro) to allow for regeneration in areas that are expected to experience a massive dieback of mature trees due to beech leaf disease; and protecting young trees in forest clearings outside deer exclosures at 10 preserves to encourage their growth with tree tubes that prevent deer browse.
“Our forests are important to our well-being — hiking strengthens our bodies and our minds and provides critical ecosystem services like climate change mitigation and flood protection,” said Janelle Robbins, vice president of conservation. “This life-changing grant gives us the opportunity to enact simple, strong practices and we invite the community to join us.”
Westchester Land Trust works with public and private partners to preserve land in perpetuity and to enhance the natural resources in Westchester and eastern Putnam counties — a densely populated region under persistent threat from the pressures of development. Founded in 1988, WLT has preserved more than 9,250 acres of open space and 1,112 acres of land are owned by the organization, which are free and open to the public year-round. WLT was one of the first land trusts in the nation to receive accreditation through the Land Trust Accreditation Commission.
