Orange County opens open space fund for conservation projects

Orange County has opened its Fall 2026 Open Space Fund cycle, putting county matching dollars on the table for towns, villages, cities, nonprofits, conservation partners and even individual property owners with land worth preserving. The program can support fee-simple purchases, development rights and conservation easements, and it can also help with closing and stewardship costs.

The county may cover up to 50 percent of a purchase price, capped at 50 percent of appraised value. Orange County is not buying every parcel outright, but using its share to help local sponsors combine county money with state, federal and other funding to complete a deal. Parcels that protect farmland in growth corridors, forests, waterways and community parkland are the strongest fit, because the county ties the fund to its Open Space Plan, Comprehensive Plan and Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan.

County Executive Steven M. Neuhaus announced the cycle. Planning Commissioner Alan Sorensen said the program protects the landscapes that define Orange County. Applications are due Sept. 25, 2026 at 4 p.m., and complete materials must be delivered to the Orange County Department of Planning in Goshen. The fund runs in two cycles each year, spring and fall, so applicants that wait too long will likely have to hold their projects until the next round.

The county's open space system is an interconnected network of agricultural lands, natural resources, water resources, parks, preserves and trails. Its Countywide Open Space Plan was updated with help from the Orange County Land Trust and funding from the Hudson River Valley Greenway, after two decades in which development pressure, climate change and energy infrastructure upgrades changed the county landscape. In the fall 2025 round, $4 million was available.

Applicant questions and county responses are folded into the program guidelines and evaluation criteria.