KINGSTON – The Kingston Land Trust wants to raise $30,000 so that it can purchase 54 acres of land that straddles the City of Kingston and Town of Ulster to launch its Land in Black Hands program.
The envisioned site would serve as a hub for hands-on learning in agricultural practices for the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) community.
Six acres would be designated for regenerative agricultural and 47 acres would be set aside as biodiverse forest, wetland, and ridge habitat, realigning the program with the City of Kingston’s Open Space Plan’s 2030 goal of protecting 60 acres of “biologically important” urban forest land in the Rondout Uplands – 20 acres have already been protected and made accessible by the Kingston Land Trust and Northeastern Caves Conservancy.
“This project goes beyond conventional land trust functions; it’s about justice and transformative change,” said Shaniqua Bowden, director of Cultural Engagement and Sustainable Living at the land trust. “Without deliberate action, we cannot bridge the generational gap experienced by Black Americans in their connection to nature.”
The land trust said the goal of raising $30,000 must be met by February 19 for the acquisition to move forward.
