Our Mission is to protect the natural beauty of the Rensselaerville Falls,the watershed of Lake Myosotis and surrounding lands,to conduct long-term research on natural systems as a part of a global effort to understand and preserve the Earth's biodiversity,and to increase appreciation of this effort through innovative,field-based educational programs for students,teachers and the community.

The Preserve is part of a vast tract of land, or "wyck," established in 1629 by Kilian van Rensselaer through a charter from the Dutch West Indies Company and subdivided in 1785 by Stephen van Rensselaer, eighth patroon of the manor. Rensselaerville became a bustling village after the Revolutionary War.

Edmund Niles Huyck, for whom the Preserve is named , was the son of the founder of a felt mill established at Rensselaerville in 1870. Its remains still are visible near the foot of the Rensselaerville Falls. After E.N. Huyck died in 1930, his widow, Jessie Van Antwerp Huyck, and other heirs established the Preserve. Above all else, this natural resource is a refuge for nature - a place to be left unspoiled and undeveloped. The original charter of the Preserve states that its purpose is "to preserve the natural beauty of the Rensselaerville Falls, Lake Myosotis, Lincoln Pond and the land around them...and to increase the general knowledge and love of nature."