Switz Kill Farm Preserve 📍

The property, originally a part of the Manor Rensselaerwyck, was a game farm until 1976 when it was purchased by the New School University. In 2004, it was sold to the Rigpa Center for Wisdom and Compassion, also known as the Tenzin Gyatso Institute. Reminders of the institute’s Buddist culture can be still be found on the property. In 2015, the Town of Berne purchased the property and opened it as a public nature preserve.

🖼️ Photos
Thematic Map: Primary Direction of Hillsides in NYS - Aspect

Switz Kill Farm Preserve Explorations ⛰

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Hiked over to the Switz Kill Farm Preserve this morning from Cole Hill State Forest. Not the easiest way to the park, as you have to cross a small creek and work your way around a wet land, barbed wire fences and Posted No Trespassing signs from back when the area was a Game Farm / Hunting Club.

No hunting back here these days and it shows from the buck with the nice rack I saw, plus the large doe and the half dozen grouse I flushed out on the other side of the swamp past the No Trespassing signs. It’s too bad with the rural town ownership the property is in disrepair but the trails are decently marked and the views of the hills and the Catskills are nice from the Ag fields.

Thematic Map: Average Hottest Day of the Year in NYS 2006-2020
SVGZ Graphic: Population Change from 1974 to 2024
Map: Green Mountain National Forest North