Our Work

Who We Are

The Kingston Land Trust is a nonprofit organization that protects environmentally and socially significant land for the common good. In addition to traditional land conservation, we work collaboratively to address inequities by making land accessible to the community through urban agriculture, commuter trails, recreation, heritage sites, and affordable homes. Our innovative and inclusive programming encourages our diverse community to live in a sustainable and healthy relationship to the land and other living beings. Land for all, all for land!

Our Service Area

We are based in the City of Kingston, New York and also protect land in the Town of Ulster and Town of Hurley. Click here to see a service area map of Ulster County land trusts.

Our Work

We protect land by owning land, and are looking to hold conservation easements to help others protect their land. We inspire and facilitate land protection through planning, policy, design, advocacy, programs and outreach.

 

We practice Community Conservation:

We are members of the national organization of land conservation organizations, the Land Trust Alliance (LTA), and we are working toward accreditation. According to the LTA, Community Conservation is an approach to land conservation that includes more people and begins by listening to many different voices in the community — then responding. Community Conservation uses the strengths of the land trust to meet needs expressed by people in the community.

Regional Conservation Connections:

We are regularly in touch with Hudson Valley and Catskills land conservation organizations at roundtables, symposiums and conference calls. In particular we have worked closely with Scenic Hudson, Open Space Institute and Woodstock Land Conservancy, and our trail system connects with the Wallkill Valley Land Trust's rail trail. We are also building relationships with professors and students in related fields from local universities (Bard and SUNY New Paltz).

We encourage Equitable Development:

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Equitable Development is an approach for meeting the needs of underserved communities through policies and programs that reduce disparities while fostering places that are healthy and vibrant.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI):

We strive to be an open and inclusive community supporting diversity in age, race, language, income, physical and mental abilities, sexual orientation and gender identity. We are committed to centering BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) voices and needs in our work around land access, ownership, livelihood through the land, and land conservation. 

We remove barriers to participation in our work and to public decision making by diversifying our team and doing outreach in communities that are underrepresented. As 15% of Kingston is Hispanic, most of our programming is bilingual (Spanish interpretation is available).

The Kingston Land Trust through time:

  • Executive Director Julia Farr invited to join Land Trust Alliances' National Leadership Council

  • Kingston Point Rail Trail Opens

    Completion of Phase 1 of the Kingston Point Rail Trail project (between Jansen Ave. and Garraghan Dr.)

  • Purchase and permanent protection of Pine Street African Burial Ground

  • KLT purchases Gross St. Property

    Rondout wooded property protected along the Kingston Point Rail Trail with a grant from the Open Space Institute.

  • First Comida y tierra event

    Comida y tierra is a Spanish immersion conversation series on food and land that is organized by the KLT in collaboration with the Kingston YMCA Farm Project. 

  • Increased capacity by hiring staff

    The KLT was volunteer-run between 2013 and 2017, with prior staff leadership Rebecca Martin as Executive Director between 2011 and 2013. Our Executive Director, Julia Farr started in February of 2017 and current Operations Manager Ted Griese was hired later that fall. In the spring of 2018 Greg Shaheen, Conservation Coordinator and Shaniqua Bowden, Outreach Coordinator joined the KLT team!

  • Launched the Kingston Greenline initiative

    A vision of the KLT's all-volunteer Rail Trail Committee, the Greenline is a system of non-motorized transportation routes linking Kingston’s residents to important social, cultural and recreational anchors and securing the city’s position at the heart of the County’s growing regional trail network.

  • KLT acquired 8 vacant parcels through competitive bidding process

    Most of the properties are located along the lower Esopus creek. In 2018 we received a grant from the DEC's Hudson River Estuary Program to plant nearly 70 native trees and shrubs on one of these parcels in the Town of Ulster. This grant along with the help of our volunteer-run Greening Group, allowed us to restore a riparian buffer along the Esopus Creek.

  • Hosted Mt. Zion African-American Cemetery Rededication Ceremony

    Close to 200 people were in attendance that included family members who drove as far away as Washington DC to take part in this historic event.

  • First volunteer work day at the South Pine Street City Farm

    Dedicated to serving as a model of urban agriculture for the city of Kingston and beyond, this small-scale market garden demonstrates agriculture that thrives in an urban environment and thus serves as a model for future projects. The farm is operated in partnership with the Kingston Land Trust, Binnewater Ice Co., and local farmers Joel Zenie and Trish Hawkins.

  • The Kingston Land Trust officially becomes a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization

Our work made possible by: