Kinderhook Creek Corridor

Disappearing farmland

Kinderhook Creek weaves its way from the Village of Kinderhook, birthplace of President Martin Van Buren, to the Town of Stuyvesant in Columbia County, New York. Located just 35 miles south of Albany, the five-mile creek corridor is home to some of the most fertile farmland in New York State.

In 2006, OSI was at the center of a unique and expansive partnership, including the Federal, State, and local governments and private farmers to preserve the agricultural and historic heritage of the Kinderhook Creek Corridor. 

Here, we successfully partnered with the National Park Service to protect President Van Buren’s former estate and six nearby farms. These transactions were part of our effort to protect Columbia County farm fields—an increasingly rare resource in upstate New York—and ensure their continued use as working farmland.

Today, the Kinderhook Corridor remains a model for agricultural and historic conservation.