The Lower Hudson - Long Island RC&D Council is a 501(C)3 non profit organization. The RC&D Council consists of 24 voting members representing the Conservation Districts and County legislatures serving Brooklyn, Dutchess, Manhattan, Nassau, Orange, Putnam, Queens, Rockland, Staten Island, Suffolk, The Bronx, Ulster and Westchester. This regional structure encourages collaborative approaches and facilitates leveraging of technical and financial assistance for projects.

The RC&D Council is one of 375 RC&D areas across the country that was created by a provision of the Food and Agriculture Act of 1962 under Public Law 87-703. This legislation was adopted on the premise that local citizens, primarily in rural locales, could collectively develop and implement action-oriented plans for the social, economic, and environmental betterment of their own communities.

The mission of the RC&D Council is to facilitate economic growth that is both environmentally sound and socially equitable through the promotion of a partnership between rural and urban conservation initiatives.