HELP US TO PROTECT THE LAND THAT MATTERS MOST

With the support of our members and donors, we have made great progress in saving the Valley's treasured landscapes and working farmland for future generations. But so much work remains to be done.

Landscapes lost

Every minute of every day, the U.S. loses two acres of agricultural land to development. The Hudson Valley is ranked as the 10th most threatened agricultural region in the country! With your help we can put a major dent in this number, and your gift today will help make a dramatic impact.

With your financial support we can rise to the challenge of saving the best of the Valley before it is too late. That's why we need your help today.

In the coming decade, our region is expected to add at a minimum, 75,000 new houses. Here's a sampling of what's being proposed for a few of our communities along the river:

• 7,000 residential units proposed for the Yonkers waterfront
• About 2,000 residential units proposed for the Kingston waterfront

These examples of overdevelopment not only result in serious consequences for our region's land, but for our water and air quality too.

Runoff run amok

Haphazard development also brings runoff water pollution to our region's watersheds, degrading our estuaries, lakes and streams. Natural landscapes, such as parks, forests, and wetlands trap rainwater and snowmelt and filter it into the ground slowly.

By contrast, large surfaces that are paved or covered over are impervious to rain. Instead of slowly being absorbed into the ground naturally, stormwater gets trapped above these surfaces, accumulates, and runs off in large amounts into our waterways, collecting pollutants along the way.

What to do?

With your help, we can continue to work with local communities, farmers and would-be developers to implement smart-growth solutions in 2008 -- those that reinvigorate our communities, bring new development that encourages mixed use, protect environmental resources, are designed on a human scale, and preserve the best of our landscape for future generations -- all while still working well for the environment.

And remember

The most haunting aspect of overdevelopment is its permanence: every acre of natural or open space paved over for sprawl -- and every acre claimed by a new development project on the fringe of our riverfronts and farmland -- represents an acre lost forever. Farmland and other open space cannot be reclaimed!

Help us preserve the health and beauty of the Hudson Valley before it's too late.

Please make a special year-end gift to Scenic Hudson today.

Best wishes for the season,

Ned Sullivan
President
Scenic Hudson

P.S. If you have already donated, thank you for your generous support!