Bayard Cutting Arboretum Receives State Grant From Cuomo

GREAT RIVER, NY — Governor Cuomo announced on Wednesday that $900,000 in grant money will be disbursed to state parks, trails, historic sites and public land. The money will be allocated to 30 sites, including Bayard Cutting Arboretum in Great River.

Bayard Cutting Arboretum Horticultural Society will receive $50,000 to hire an education coordinator to create and manage educational programs for the community to utilize the arboretum.

Grants are administered by the nonprofit group Parks & Trails New York. The grant awardees must raise their own funding of at least 10 percent of the state grant.

The increase in park visitation during the pandemic means use of the state sites is up along with the need for these types of initiatives, Robin Dropkin, who is the director of Parks & Trails New York, said in a statement.

Bayard Cutting Arboretum State Park comprises 691 acres including an arboretum originally designed by Frederick Law Olmsted for William Bayard Cutting in 1886, and a mansion designed by Charles C. Haight. A collection of fir, spruce, pine, cypress, hemlock, yew and other conifer trees is one of the biggest on Long Island.