Deal preserves open land while allowing highway

New Windsor — Conservationists are applauding a land deal that will protect “an unparalleled recreation and wildlife area second in size only to Sterling Forest.” On Nov. 21 the Stewart Park and Reserve Coalition, the Orange County Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, and the Sierra Club, announced a deal with New York State resulting in the preservation of almost 1,700 acres. This will be added to the existing Stewart State Forest west of Stewart Airport, for a total of 7,000 acres of open lands. This protected acreage represents the culmination of 18 years of ongoing lobbying, strategizing, networking, fundraising, and court battles to save the Stewart Buffer Lands west of the airport in Orange County. Negotiations have resulted in a consent decree that will add these lands to the existing Stewart State Forest — 5,300 acres dedicated in 1999 after years of lobbying by the Stewart Park and Reserve Coalition. In return, the coalition and its co-plaintiffs will drop their legal challenges in both the federal and New York State courts, permitting the Drury Lane Interchange and highway project to proceed. The coalition will also not oppose the commercial development of some 300 acres west of Drury Lane and about 100 acres east of Drury Lane, directly south of I-84. Another parcel of about 100 acres will be planned for industrial development, located west of Barron Road, just below Route I-84 and adjacent to the village of Maybrook. In 1971, the buffer lands, 8,657 acres in all, were seized by then Governor Nelson Rockefeller from private homeowners and farmers under the laws of eminent domain. The Stewart Park and Reserve Coalition has saved 7,000 acres of this “taking” for the public. Said Sandra Kissam of SPARC: “There is a measure of justice we have achieved in the disposition of this land. Through our efforts it will be for the recreation of all, and will protect our environment and our wildlife, for generations to come.”