Our purpose is to conserve significant natural landscapes in the Esopus Creek watershed and the Saugerties area.
We're located in Saugerties, New York, a Hudson Valley town bordering the Hudson River and the Catskill Mountains, one hundred miles north of New York City. With Saugerties as our home base, our purpose is to conserve significant natural landscapes in the Esopus Creek watershed and the Saugerties area.
Established in July 2003 as a nonprofit corporation, we acquired a 156-acre natural environment in 2004, and added five more acres in 2006. The property shares a mile of shoreline with the upper Esopus Creek in Saugerties. Its name - Esopus Bend Nature Preserve.
During the past seven years with terrific community support, we have provided public access to the preserve with new and improved hiking trails. Volunteers have worked to restore the meadow area where visitors can now observe a wide variety of wildflowers, birds and butterflies. Environmental education walks are scheduled throughout the year and listed on our Web site calendar. Partnering with the Catskill Center for Conservation and Development and the Saugerties school district, we opened up Esopus Bend as an outdoor classroom for local schools. Working with landowners and other environmental groups, we support the protection of additional environmentally sensitive properties.
The mission of the Esopus Creek Conservancy, Inc.
is to conserve significant natural landscapes
in the lower Esopus Creek watershed
and in the Saugerties area
by protecting the rural character of the environment,
by conserving and protecting natural habitats,
by promoting biodiversity, and
by sharing an appreciation of our natural resources with the community through public outreach, education and advocacy.
