Help Us Cross the Finish Line

Please donate to support this once-in-a-generation initiative as we build our future.

MRG’s new headquarters are nearly ready — and we need your help to complete it.

We are deeply grateful to several generous benefactors, whose early gifts got this campaign off the ground. Our Wingding paddle raisers and a timely bequest have since brought us so close to the finish line.

Help Us Cross the Finish Line
Image of man, Jim Gibb, in front of the Mianus River Gorge Office.

It’s Time to Grow

The Mianus River Gorge office sits just across and up the road from the entrance to our 961-acre Preserve in Bedford. In 1979, MRG built a small residence for our caretaker, Jim Gibb, who was, at the time, the organization’s only employee. When our first Executive Director was hired in 1987, a one-room addition to that residence became the MRG headquarters and office for two full-time and one part-time staff. For 38 years.

Fast forward to 2026.

Until recently, that same one-room office held five full-time and three part-time staff, plus seasonal college interns, high school and graduate students in our award-winning research and education program. We were bursting at the seams.

Since November, we’ve worked out of a temporary office space so renovation and expansion of the building could begin. We have continued to offer public guided walks, mentor high school and college students and steward the land. We’re eager to move into our new headquarters and to share it with you.

Researcher and student sit in front of a computer in a crowded office
Outside of the old Mianus River Gorge Office, a brown building
Staff and student, a man in a yellow t-shirt with a woman in a graphic t-shirt, stand in a crowded office
Exterior of the old Mianus River Gorge Office, a brown building with a teal door
Exterior of the Mianus River Gorge office under construction.
Exterior of the Mianus River Gorge office with expansion and new roof
Interior of a room with construction debris covering the floor
Newly drywalled room under construction
Exterior view of the Mianus River Gorge's new science center still under construction

Construction is underway

When complete, the new Headquarters will provide:

  • Meeting space for community talks, workshops, and presentations
  • Research and Education extension with room to spread the wings of our program
  • State-of-the-art technology for classroom and lab where students and staff can conduct ecological research  
  • Parking lot for visitors to our headquarters
  • Native plant scaping
  • ADA accessible space for staff and visitors alike

Why it matters

Our work directly protects 1,200 acres of watershed land, the water supply for more than 130,000 people, and:

  • Helps us better understand the conservation challenges we face
  •  Allows us to share our knowledge with the public and other conservation organizations
  • Informs MRG’s land management and stewardship decisions
  • Identifies wildlife corridors linking protected open spaces
  • Launches careers in conservation science
Image of the Mianus river surrounded by trees with fall color
Two men, Chris Nagy and Jean Luc Plante, stand in around a large eastern hemlock tree trunk
A man, Budd Veverka teaches hikers the risks of invasive plants. The group stands in the woods in hiking gear.
Two women smile as they work managing plants within the Mianus River Gorge preserve
A bobcat, as captured by trail cam, uses a wildlife highway to travel through the woods.
A group of people stand in front of a gray barn. The group contains the staff and interns of the Mianus River Gorge

We’re almost there

Goal: $200,000

Please donate by August 31 to help us launch the future of Mianus River Gorge.

Help Us Cross the Finish Line

While cash gifts are always welcome, non-cash assets, such as a gift of stock, a gift from an IRA, or a grant from a donor-advised fund are all good ways to invest in the future of the Gorge.

For questions, contact Leslie Zachary, Director of Development, at leslie@mianus.org or 914-234-3455.