Westchester Land Trust has finalized the permanent protection of 60 acres of the Hudson Pines Estate, the Westchester County home of the late David and Peggy Rockefeller. WLT will honor the Rockefeller Family at its 30th anniversary annual benefit, set for June 2 at the private Rockefeller Family Playhouse in Pocantico Hills. Funds raised at the event will help WLT permanently preserve open space throughout the county, including more than 1,000 acres of currently active projects.

Based in Bedford Hills, WLT works with public and private partners to preserve land in perpetuity and enhance the natural resources in Westchester and eastern Putnam counties—a densely populated region under persistent threat from the pressures of development. This most recent protection marks WLT’s eighth conservation easement on Rockefeller family lands, for a total of 180 acres of environmentally sensitive lands now preserved in Westchester County.

A conservation easement is a voluntary legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust that permanently restricts a property’s development in order to protect its important conservation values. The Hudson Pines property—part of a conservation corridor that includes the 1,500-acre Rockefeller State Park Preserve—will remain in private hands and not be open to the public.

VIP tickets to the anniversary celebration include access to the Playhouse, a tour with a Historic Hudson Valley docent and a reception before the main event. For more info or to purchase tickets, contact Michelle Pleim, WLT’s development and special events coordinator, at 914.234.6992, ext. 22, or [email protected].