Governor George Pataki (R-NY) was in Bedford Wednesday to announce almost $3 million in state grants to help preserve parks and historic sites in Westchester and Hudson Valley.

The 13 grants come from the state?s Environmental Protection Fund. Pataki was at the site of one of the beneficiaries of the funds, the John Jay Homestead, where $139,000 will be used to turn an old carriage barn into the site's first official visitor center.

Money is also being provided to Yonkers for open space development along the old Croton Aqueduct, along with sites in Rockland and Orange counties.