It was a beautiful July afternoon in Gallatin, New York when Claudia Knab-Vispo and Kyle Bradford arrived for a scouting walk in the meadow where they’d be leading a walk later that evening. The site, a family-owned property managed by Eli Arnow and Avalon Bunge, is in the process of being converted to a native biodiversity hotspot. After two years without mowers in the fields, native plants were evident in every direction, and bees and butterflies floated among them.

PCA is honored to announce that The National has designated it as recipient of $1 for each ticket sold during The National’s current world tour.

Congratulations to the Town of Canaan for receiving a 2023 Ecological Restoration Grant. Funding will support the planting of native wildflowers and trees and removal of the invasive water chestnut.

We are proud to share that Freedom Plains United Presbyterian Church received a 2023 Ecological Restoration Grant to support a pollinator garden with a rainwater harvesting system.

Community members teamed up to support ecological restoration on Kite’s Nest campus. Volunteers learned about compost care, helped with the “lasagna layering” method for soil building, and cleaned up the site. Kite’s Nest was a recipient of PCA’s 2023 Ecological Restoration Grants program.

As a parent, caregiver, educator, or anyone with children in their lives, talking about the realities of the climate crisis can be hard. On May 30th, Harriet Shugarman, Executive Director of ClimateMama, shared her insights on how to inform, inspire, and empower the next generation.

Congratulations to New Paltz Middle School for receiving a 2023 Ecological Restoration grant for their pollinator project. The grant will fund construction of three types of native gardens to improve habitat and augment outdoor curriculum, in partnership with the Wallkill Valley Land Trust Pollinator Pathway.

On July 11th, Samrat Pathania, Master Teacher Emeritus and co-founder of the Educator Collective for Environmental Justice, and Mary Jane Nusbaum, an art teacher in the Hudson Valley, led us through their experience integrating climate solutions into classroom curriculum.

Congratulations to the Philmont Public Library for receiving a 2023 Ecological Restoration Grant for their “Philmont Pollinator Pathway” project. This grant will provide pollinator habitat along a public-private connectivity corridor and will include public engagement programs.

Congratulations to our ten cohort members for successful completion of the Local Champions program! This PCA program brought together and trained community change-makers to lead their municipality’s work as part of NYS’s Climate Smart Communities program.

On April 25th, Matt Schlesinger, Chief Zoologist with the NY Natural Heritage Program, joined our 2023 Morning Coffee series to discuss “Preserving Native New York Pollinators: What to Know and What to Do,” sharing the results of the recently completed Empire State Native Pollinator Survey.

The Gallatin CAC hosted an Earth Day event to install a low-cost, innovatively designed deer exclosure to protect a portion of the woods from continued overbrowsing. Fence construction was supported by a 2023 PCA Ecological Restoration Grant.

Thank you to everyone who joined our Climate Action Mixer in Poughkeepsie! In addition to wonderful networking, we learned about state and federal funding opportunities for local climate action, with presentations by Mark Lowery, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, and Juan Gutierrez, US Environmental Protection Agency.

With the help of a 2023 Ecological Restoration Grant from PCA, the Saugerties Lighthouse Conservancy is combating shoreline threats by using an innovative combination of techniques for native plant restoration and shoreline stabilization.

Bread Alone is a family-owned business that has been baking organic bread for 40 years. As an early adopter of sustainability measures, they are now a certified “carbon-neutral” business. CEO Nels Leader shared his insights with us as part of our Morning Coffee series.

Sarah Brannen, Former Poughkeepsie Common Council Member, joined Salem, Former Poughkeepsie Common Council Chair and Director of the Hudson Valley Food System Coalition, to discuss Community Choice Aggregation, Waterfront Development and Historic Preservation in Poughkeepsie as part of our Morning Coffee series.

An atmospheric scientist, National Geographic Explorer, Research Scholar with Bard College's Center for Environmental Policy, and tornado researcher, Dr. Anton Seimon shared insights from decades of observing Hudson Valley storm phenomena and climate change impacts to help us plan for the future.

The City of Hudson’s Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) and Hudson Development Corporation (HDC) received an ecological restoration grant for urban forestry during PCA’s 2023 grant round.

Grant funding from federal, state, and foundation sources can galvanize your climate-related project into action or help bring it to the next level. In this Morning Coffee session, Kristen Wilson provided an overview of strategies for approaching the grant process with success.

It was a pleasure to see all who attended our holiday Climate Action Mixer at the Senate Garage in Kingston. Thank you to Karenna Gore, Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Earth Ethics, Jen Metzger, Ulster County Executive, and Kingston's Mayor Steve Noble for speaking to the group!