Untitled (12)Stony Kill
By Nathan Dykeman
Journal staff writer
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FISHKILL—A plea for ade-
quate funding for the Stony Kill
environmental education center
off Route 9-D will be taken direct-
ly to State Senate and Assembly
committees which deal with
environmental matters, William
D. Reiner, president and
chairman of the Stony Kill Foun-
dation, said today.
The Stony Kill Foundation, a
private group supporting the
Stony Kill center operation on a
full scale, wants the entire
$120,000 for operation put in
either the regular budget next
month or the supplemental
budget which comes out in late
spring.
Originally, $120,000 was put in
the budget, but it was slashed
back two-thirds to $33,700 by Gov.
Carey's Division of Budget.
Reiner said the foundation, at a
recent meeting at the Stony Kill
Manor House decided to contact.
State Sen. Bernard Smith of the
Senate's Conservation
Committee and Assemblyman
Oliver Koppell of the Assembly's
Environmental Committee to
seek support for the full funding.
Under the $33,700 funding, the
Stony Kill director, Robert
Budliger, would spend all of his
time at the state Department of
Environmental Conservation of-
fices in Albany. Under the cur-
rent funding, he seldom has been
at Stony Kill.
Only a ''skeleton" staff would
operate at Stony Kill if the budget
cut remains, Reiner said.
He said that if the $120,000 is
not put into the Stony Kill budget
until supplemental budget time,
there will be a delay in full opera-
tions, because the state's fiscal
year starts April 1. However, the
foundation is backing a plan
which would provide the funding
at that time if not in March,
Reiner said.
legislato'r's
Meanwhile, the foundation is
looking into new programs which
would be in line with Stony Kill's
plans to provide education in
educational and agricultural
matters.
One of them is a garden plot
program, which has been carried
out the last four or five years at
nearby Castle Point Veterans
Hospital, a federal facility.
Reiner said the Foundation has
been talking with James Wick of
the Wappinger Conservation
possible move from Castle Point
to Stony Kill.
Representatives of the Dut-
chess County Art Association at
the Barrett House, Noxon Street,
spoke to the foundation about a
possible environmental arts
program at Stony Kill, Reiner
said. Another possibility for
Stony Kill, he said, is the hiring of
persons to work at the state
facility with Comprehensive
Employment Training Act funds.