Stories from the Field

The passage of the Great American Outdoors Act was heralded as one of our nation’s most significant conservation achievements in decades. In the middle of this great success story was Lesley Kane Szynal, who leads OSI's Outdoor America Campaign.

“Our garden’s largest impact is as a self-healing community. I have seen firsthand the transformational power of touching soil, and Kelly Street Garden helps us address the issues of our community while bringing people together." - Sheryll Durrant

Nine projects in 2019 safeguarding a critical water source and two impressive trail projects

“OSI understands the long-term conservation vision of South Carolina, and is effective in protecting threatened, ecologically significant places.” - State Senator Chip Campsen.

The Tennessee River Gorge is a geological wonder flanking a 26-mile stretch of Tennessee’s namesake river, where waters carved a path thousands of feet deep through the hard sandstone and limestone of the Cumberland Plateau.

Five large-scale projects protects 37,000 acres and the benefits are immeasurable.

"Since the center was renovated, we have hosted many more community performances." - Travis Berry

Largest conservation project in Virginia in decades protects forestland and the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

The Open Space Institute and local partners are joining forces to create a master plan that will identify new stakeholder partners across varied interests and sectors to develop a “green corridor” in the Palmertown Range,

For OSI, whose conservation work over the decades had added over 40,000 acres to the state’s 335,000-acre state park system, the prospect of parks closings prompted disbelief, then resolve

A master trail builder, Kortright’s skills are invaluable to OSI’s reconstruction of the 19th-century carriage roads–just one of the many features that make New York’s Minnewaska State Park Preserve a recreational destination.

OSI provides support that helps a community garden come to life.

The Denny Cove project was one of three that OSI and partners projects completed in 2017 that expand South Cumberland State Park.

As 2019 draws to a close, OSI is looking back at our conservation achievements this year. All told, OSI is on its way to protecting nearly 35,000 acres of land for clean water, clean air, and places to bike and hike.

As 2019 draws to a close, OSI is reflecting back on a year of conservation successes. This year, in a trio of historic acquisitions, OSI helped protect the Everglades, the Chesapeake Bay, and the Delaware River – all by safeguarding natural lands.

As 2019 draws to a close, OSI is reflecting back on a year of conservation successes. This year, OSI added more than 8,500 acres to 10 New York State parks and forests.

As 2019 draws to a close, OSI is looking back at our conservation achievements this year. OSI-protected lands removed three metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere this year.

As 2019 draws to a close, OSI is looking back at our conservation achievements this year. By strategically protecting land that benefits communities, OSI is helping to safeguard resources for future generations.

OSI, with support from the William Penn Foundation, has an expansive initiative to support the long-tern health of the Delaware River.

Land conservation plays an important role in finding climate solutions.

OSI's River-to-Ridge Trail connects New Paltz to Shawangunk Ridge

The Open Space Institute Featured at 2019 New York Land Trust Alliance Conference

Finding a balance between ecological, agricultural, and recreational use

2018 The dramatic escarpment of the Shawangunk Ridge. The verdant forests of the Southern Cumberland Plateau. The paddling paradise of South Carolina’s Black River.

By protecting climate-resilient landscapes — defined as lands that will continue to be a haven for habitat, even as the climate changes — land trusts have a critical role to play in addressing climate change.

Through our land conservation and support for parks, OSI is increasing access to nature, improving your visitor experience, and creating more places and opportunities for fun and healthy outdoors escapes.

Protecting unspoiled forests is among the most effective ways to conserve drinking water. OSI’s work safeguards drinking water for communities from South Carolina up the east coast to New England.

Saving farms and forests, OSI helps towns and communities achieve environmental and conservation goals. We make an impact with grants and awards to young leaders and students to increase diversity in the field.

In Conway, South Carolina, community leaders turn to land protection, to help prepare for a future threatened by climate change.

Citizen Action allows OSI to reach diverse audiences who are passionate about conservation. The program addresses a range of issues that are central to OSI’s mission, and leaves a positive and lasting mark at the community level.

Today the Open Space Institute, the Water District, and other partners are working against time to save Sebago Lake’s forests – and to protect drinking water for roughly 200,000 people.

Thanks to OSI’s support of a local friends group, a park in the Inwood community of Manhattan is being cared for in order to build community, bring people closer to nature, and ensure access to green spaces in a densely populated city.

OSI is offering solutions that will better disperse eager explorers by securing additional acreage for public access in the Adirondacks.

There is wide agreement that land conservation plays an important role in reducing harmful gases that cause climate change. The question is, how big a role?

OSI Citizen Action Group, Talk Trash City, tackles climate change with innovation

For more than four decades, the Open Space Institute (OSI) has protected some of the most beautiful landscapes in the heart of New York’s Adirondacks – land that provides people with places to play and discover the wonders of nature.

“From expanding commuting options to providing safe greenspace to exercise and enjoy the outdoors, we are on the verge of something really wonderful.”

Since 2014, nearly 100 land conservation organizations have integrated climate science into their land-protection decisions with support from OSI. The South Carolina nonprofit Upstate Forever is the latest OSI “climate change ambassador.”

HarborLAB is an OSI Citizen Action group with an emphasis on “learning adventure boating.” It promotes environmental stewardship by providing free, water-based programming for children, underprivileged youth, and underrepresented community members.

OSI is protecting open space in a fast-growing community.

Recognizing that the environmental movement is strengthened by different perspectives and voices, the Open Space Institute launched its Conservation Diversity Fellowship in 2016.

OSI is playing a big role in bringing the transformative power of trails to communities where we work.

OSI's Delaware River Watershed Initiative Catalyst grants bring watershed science to bear on county and municipal planning to ensure scarce conservation dollars, effectively protecting water quality in the Delaware River Watershed.

“Food justice is life-changing and active work; you have to actively participate in it to help bring about change,”

Saving a tradition in New England

Dyaami D'Orazio, OSI's 2017 Conservation Fellow, traveled to Sussex County, NJ, to learn more about on-the-ground initiatives around forest and drinking water protection.

OSI’s preservation of natural lands is the key to water quality, and OSI-protected farmland is producing some of the best hops and barley in the country. The next time you raise a glass of your favorite local brew, offer a toast to conservation.

OSI's mission is to make lands more accessible to all ages. Working with our partner the Butler Conservation Fund, we highlight three landscapes that are now more available to young and old.

OSI working in South Carolina

Using our experience in the Adirondacks, know-how, and taking quick action, OSI helps to resolve a long-standing land dispute.

Harvey Forest is one of eight climate-resilient properties totaling almost 12,000 acres that OSI helped safeguard through grants and loans in 2016, including five projects in Tennessee, one in Pennsylvania, and another in New Hampshire.

​OSI’s Klipper Family Fund for the Champlain Valley is using land protection to grow the local economy while saving time-honored rural traditions.

How OSI created a serene park in the middle of a busy office complex in suburban Morris County, NJ.

When the Smiley Road reconstruction and the new trail completed, OSI envisions a unified trail network surrounding and crossing the Shawangunk Ridge that will total 116 miles in length.

OSI’s Bayshore Highlands Fund conserves farmland to protect drinking water in the Delaware Watershed. Research shows that wide buffers of natural vegetation along springs, streams and wetlands can filter out pollutants from farming.

More than a daily pleasure, the South Carolina landscape is a way of life. Between its quiet blackwater rivers, pristine coastal beaches, sunny longleaf pine savannas, and dramatic mountains, South Carolina provides many outdoor opportunities.

A recent Open Space Institute loan of $2.18 million to The Nature Conservancy and OSI's purchase of the Fairlawn tract, will secure more than 1,400 acres for longleaf restoration at the Talladega National Forest in Alabama.

OSI's Transborder Fund is doing what comes naturally.

To our friends and partners in the Carolinas

In 2020, as the public flocked to the outdoors, OSI’s legacy of protecting millions of acres -- and improving access to many beloved parks and lands -- took on renewed meaning. People came home to the land, and the land was there to welcome us.

By targeting key forests for conservation, in 2020 OSI kept its focus on protecting drinking water, the lifeblood of countless habitats and communities.

Before the end of 2020, OSI is anticipating the addition of almost 13,000 acres to state and national parks and forests in Georgia, South Carolina, and New York.

In 2020, OSI-protected lands removed and estimated 1.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere – equivalent to the annual emissions of more than 1.2 million cars.

This year, OSI’s environmental protection work touched communities across the east, both urban and rural — from New Paltz to the Bronx in New York; and from quiet Dillon County to the Charleston, SC region, just to name a few.