On the morning of March 16th, I was able to venture over to South Troy to visit the John B. Staalesen Venderheyden Preserve for the first time. I was fortunate enough to visit the Preserve on a nice day with Mr. Conrad and several others involved. There was also a surveyor present to go over the boundaries of the land with the members of the Rensselaer Land Trust.
   The parcel itself is sandwiched between the Vanderheyden Estates on the North and the Wynantskill Preserve on the South. There are several border issues involving residents and stream channel changes. Recently there was a sewage leak, which required the City of Troy to excavate significant amount of earth to fix the leaking pipe. This was a surprise to everyone involved and unfortunately altered a recently landscaped parking lot. At the very least the broken lines will allow another opportunity for me to add features to the map.
   I was also able to witness the majority of the Preserve and the abundance of trails that wind throughout the landscape. I am planning on including all of these trails on the map as well as several features that can be seen from the trails. One point that intrigued me was an old baseball field that included an old, rusty backstop from decades before. There are also piles of tires and and old campfire that had been recently used. I also want to include the broken sewage line and all of the associated manholes as well another pipeline that runs near it. There are two lines, each labeled 12 and 15 respectively. (12 is the broken line).
   There are many different features to label and Mr. Conrad recommended to use a tax parcel data layer to isolate the land that was donated to the Land Trust. The stream layer should be helpful although the stream channel has significantly changed and wandered over the years. This has also altered the apparent boundary of the Preserve.
   I plan on using the upcoming spring break to go back to the Preserve to obtain data points and or when the recent snowfall melts. I will continue providing readers with updates and begin incorporating basic maps that I have started working on.
     ~Matthew Spargo