MIDDLETOWN - The Orange County Land Trust Tuesday announced it has acquired its second preserve in the Town of Warwick, this one a gift of land located along the Pochuck Creek in the Amity wetlands region.

The 30-acre Roy Preserve, a donation from the Roy family, will remain in its natural state as open space and wildlife habitat in order to preserve and protect its scenic and ecological value.  It will be open to the public, free of charge for passive recreation such as hiking, birding and nature study. 

The property is a state Department of Environmental Conservation designated wetland, with approximately 26 acres of 100- and 500-year floodplains within the Wallkill River Watershed.  It is contiguous to the 293-acre Brown-Felton property in Amity, a working hay and cattle farm protected with a conservation easement held by the Land Trust. 

The Roy Preserve is also located within a 2-mile radius of the 43-acre Drew Farm conservation easement, also held by the Orange County Land Trust, as well as the Orange County Audubon’s Frankel/Wolfson Preserve in Amity.

Fuller Mountain Preserve is the other preserve operated in Warwick by the Land Trust.  Stretching along a ravine from Black Rock Road to the New Jersey border, the 255-acre Fuller Mountain Preserve is host to a variety of wildlife including wetlands full of frogs, toads and salamanders and woods that are home to numerous species of mammals including the long-tailed weasel and the black bear.