QUESTIONS WE’VE RECEIVED ABOUT BUTTONHOOK
1. What is my donation going towards?
All funds collected go towards the land purchase and long-term stewardship, lawyer fees, and all other expenses associated with land acquisition.
2. What are you going to do with the donations if you don't win the bid?
We promise you, if we initially lose the bid, this fight is not over.
All funds raised will go towards the continued protection of this land. That will take attorney fees, consultants to learn more about the water flow, archeologists, and work with the State Historic Preservation Office, just to name a few. This land is sacred and we won’t stop working to protect it.
3) How much funding has been received in public and private grants?
While Friends of Buttonhook Forest is a 501c3, there is no state funding available until we have site control of the land. Once we have the land, then we can apply for funding for things like protecting open space and ensuring clean water and air.
4) Is this about some neighbors protecting their yards?
Hell No!
Friends of Buttonhook Forest is a community-based group - comprised at its core of New Castle residents who live throughout the Town - and our mailing list and donors now include people all over Westchester County, in many different parts of New York State and the NorthEast, across the Country - and even internationally!
The effort to save this woodland forest and this sacred Native American ceremonial site has widespread appeal to so many who are passionately and tirelessly working to protect and preserve it.
This is a racial justice issue - it’s about the continued destruction and traumatization of indigenous culture.
This effort impacts all of us because it is a direct threat to our ecosystem and our public health during a climate emergency.
This is about habitat preservation and the protection of wildlife species of special concern - being a voice for the thousands of non-human beings, who live in the forest and will die as a result of development.
This is about understanding that when we pollute water and tear down these 676 mature trees that are keeping our water and air clean, we harm ourselves.
5) I thought the Westchester Land Trust was going to get involved, why haven’t they?
While the Westchester Land Trust has been extremely helpful and supportive of Friends of Buttonhook Forest, they don’t currently have the budget to acquire the land. Just one of many options going forward is for them to caretake the land if we’re able to buy it. We won’t be exploring options like this until after we win the bid and get the land.
6) Why can’t the sacred monuments be preserved and still build on the land?
If we were only concerned about the stone structures, then yes, it may not be as traumatic to have buildings occur near the stones.
But that’s not the case. We are also concerned about more than 676 trees that would be clearcut for construction. These mature trees, as well as the mycorrhizal network between their roots, are a massive carbon sink, keeping thousands of tons of carbon out of the atmosphere. As we race towards the climate crisis, we must be doing everything possible to keep carbon in the ground.
Tearing down these woodlands would also kill, displace, and destroy the homes of innumerable wildlife including hawks, owls, a bobcat, foxes, coyotes, turtles, songbirds, and amphibians.
Healthy ecosystems have a rich biodiversity. We must keep as many forest and wetland habitats in place as we can!
7) Why doesn’t the Town purchase it?
We’ve learned a lot about local government in this process! Including the very sad fact that towns don’t have secret and endless bags of money laying around for open space preservation. As much as we’d love that, the Town has said they don’t have the resources to buy and maintain this space at this time.
8) What about the structures and land on the neighbor's adjacent property, how will they be preserved?
Great Question! If we win the bid - saving Buttonhook forest forever - the Bilski family plans to donate for preservation the adjacent acres of their land that are sacred, combining it with the newly protected forest, to ensure that these woodlands and this Native American ceremonial space remain intact and forever safe.
All funds collected go towards the land purchase and long-term stewardship, lawyer fees, and all other expenses associated with land acquisition.
2. What are you going to do with the donations if you don't win the bid?
We promise you, if we initially lose the bid, this fight is not over.
All funds raised will go towards the continued protection of this land. That will take attorney fees, consultants to learn more about the water flow, archeologists, and work with the State Historic Preservation Office, just to name a few. This land is sacred and we won’t stop working to protect it.
3) How much funding has been received in public and private grants?
While Friends of Buttonhook Forest is a 501c3, there is no state funding available until we have site control of the land. Once we have the land, then we can apply for funding for things like protecting open space and ensuring clean water and air.
4) Is this about some neighbors protecting their yards?
Hell No!
Friends of Buttonhook Forest is a community-based group - comprised at its core of New Castle residents who live throughout the Town - and our mailing list and donors now include people all over Westchester County, in many different parts of New York State and the NorthEast, across the Country - and even internationally!
The effort to save this woodland forest and this sacred Native American ceremonial site has widespread appeal to so many who are passionately and tirelessly working to protect and preserve it.
This is a racial justice issue - it’s about the continued destruction and traumatization of indigenous culture.
This effort impacts all of us because it is a direct threat to our ecosystem and our public health during a climate emergency.
This is about habitat preservation and the protection of wildlife species of special concern - being a voice for the thousands of non-human beings, who live in the forest and will die as a result of development.
This is about understanding that when we pollute water and tear down these 676 mature trees that are keeping our water and air clean, we harm ourselves.
5) I thought the Westchester Land Trust was going to get involved, why haven’t they?
While the Westchester Land Trust has been extremely helpful and supportive of Friends of Buttonhook Forest, they don’t currently have the budget to acquire the land. Just one of many options going forward is for them to caretake the land if we’re able to buy it. We won’t be exploring options like this until after we win the bid and get the land.
6) Why can’t the sacred monuments be preserved and still build on the land?
If we were only concerned about the stone structures, then yes, it may not be as traumatic to have buildings occur near the stones.
But that’s not the case. We are also concerned about more than 676 trees that would be clearcut for construction. These mature trees, as well as the mycorrhizal network between their roots, are a massive carbon sink, keeping thousands of tons of carbon out of the atmosphere. As we race towards the climate crisis, we must be doing everything possible to keep carbon in the ground.
Tearing down these woodlands would also kill, displace, and destroy the homes of innumerable wildlife including hawks, owls, a bobcat, foxes, coyotes, turtles, songbirds, and amphibians.
Healthy ecosystems have a rich biodiversity. We must keep as many forest and wetland habitats in place as we can!
7) Why doesn’t the Town purchase it?
We’ve learned a lot about local government in this process! Including the very sad fact that towns don’t have secret and endless bags of money laying around for open space preservation. As much as we’d love that, the Town has said they don’t have the resources to buy and maintain this space at this time.
8) What about the structures and land on the neighbor's adjacent property, how will they be preserved?
Great Question! If we win the bid - saving Buttonhook forest forever - the Bilski family plans to donate for preservation the adjacent acres of their land that are sacred, combining it with the newly protected forest, to ensure that these woodlands and this Native American ceremonial space remain intact and forever safe.
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