All of us at HHLT want to wish you a very happy Thanksgiving and a joyous holiday season! We are so grateful for your continued support of our work.

Together, we’ve created a thoughtful and passionate community that cares for the land. We’ve provided meaningful opportunities for learning on the land and making exciting discoveries on the land. And, most importantly, we’re helping people experience the joy and wonder of nature, which is at the very heart of our mission.

Your ideas, enthusiasm, and roll-up-your-sleeves volunteerism make a difference every day. With your help, we can continue to innovate, meet challenges, and complete critical projects that protect open spaces, wildlife, and natural resources in our area.

Thank YOU for all you do to help us protect this special place. Your support and collaboration make all of our work on the land possible. Look out over the next several weeks as we roll out a series of stories about exactly how you are making an impact on conservation in the Highlands.

We recently installed wildlife camera across our nature preserve in Putnam Valley, Granite Mountain Preserve, as part of a deer population survey. In all, we had six cameras up for one full month, and we collected more than 4,300 photos, the vast majority of which are of wildlife! Photo highlights (some of which are pictured above) include: bobcats at three different locations; an epic buck battle between an 8-pointer and 4-pointer that lasts for two hours; plus an an array of other mammals, like many camera-curious deer, lots of coyotes (including a mated pair), and a few fast foxes, raccoons, opossums, and squirrels.

A big thanks to all-star volunteer Sue Lent for helping us place the cameras, check in halfway through, and collect them from all across the Preserve.

As a reminder, Granite Mountain Preserve is closed this week through Sunday, November 28th, to all visitors except for deer hunters with a valid NYS Department of Environmental Conservation hunting license AND hunting permit from HHLT.

Much of the Preserve is experiencing deer browse damage to its understory vegetation. Controlled hunting helps to enhance the health of the current forest and ensure that there will be a healthy forest in the future.

If you have any questions on the hunting program, please contact our Director of Natural Resources, Nicole Wooten. Thank you to the hunters and the community for helping us manage the deer population!

Our friends at New York State Parks Recreation & Historic Preservation, Putnam Highlands Audubon Society (PHAS), and the Little Stony Point Citizens Association have announced a new collaboration on an ongoing series of nature programs.

The next program will be “How Animals Survive Winter" on Sunday, December 12th, at 2pm at the Little Stony Point Volunteer Center. During the workshop, NYS Parks and PHAS educators will talk about the myriad adaptations that animals have to survive the winter months, and then the group will take a short hike to look at different habitats and their environmental conditions. Please register in advance via Eventbrite.

The group plans to host at least one event each month through next summer. Information will be posted on www.putnamhighlandsaudubon.org under “upcoming events” as workshops are announced.