Kathy and Steve Trechter of Orange, Schuyler County

(Steve Trechter, October 17th, 1941—January 2, 2024)

Why did you choose to conserve your land?  What motivated you?

We have lived in despoiled areas such as a strip mining town of Maryland where sides of mountains were bulldozed overnight.  That’s where we first heard of the Finger Lakes area.  When we arrived, we had never seen such a beautiful place to live.  We want to make sure it stays that way.

How did you conserve your land?

First by not abusing it. We want to pass on this land pristine and protected forever.  Only the Finger Lakes Land Trust can realistically do that.

What makes your land special to you?

When our daughter was about five years old, she came in from outdoors and interrupted a conversation. She said she had been climbing a tree.  A friend asked in a patronizing way why she liked climbing trees.  She responded (surprising me):  because we breathe the breath of trees and they breathe our breath. On our land, there are plenty of trees to breathe.

Anything else you want to add?

1. An insight from the Wintu (original people in Northern California):  I see a forest, from which appears a deer, seen by me.

2. Human beings ought to think of themselves as less important than the world in which they live.

3. Why does conserving the land matter so much?  It’s for them: our grandchildren and their children for generations to come—those who will grow up numbering the dragonflies, chasing each other through wild places and making the earth their home.