I am always so appreciative of conservation group's attempts to bring back and create new opportunities for people to access beautiful locations and enjoy them. I live in the Lower Hudson Valley not very far North of New York City. The area is very built up and often, the most beautiful views are lost to all but a few because they are on private land.

I find it wonderful to see the renewed efforts to reclaim portions of the land that were once privately owned and then, sometimes, abandoned and allowed to become eyesores or inaccessible to the public. Scenic Hudson has been slowly bringing back neglected areas along the Hudson and re-opening them for public use.

I painted this painting of the NewBurgh/Beacon Bridge and an old yacht club along the Hudson from this wonderful, new park called Long Dock Park in Beacon. A peer for fishing and viewing was built with funding. Paths and a parking area were created. The place has come alive with people enjoying nature.

While I and a friend painted on the June morning I was there, there were fishermen fishing, lovers sitting on the rocks and gazing at the water, families with children in strollers  and a couple of older couples walking the paths.

I believe that each time an area is preserved and people are able to drink in the beauty that is nature, we take another step toward awakening all of us to the need to nurture and save this wonderful planet. I continue to hope that it's not too late and too little to do that.