Annual Report 08/09 ATV Regulations It was a year for rolling up A win, but with problems, our sleeves and rolling with in New Jersey. the punches. READ MORE ON PAGE 4 READ MORE ON PAGE 2 O UR 90TH YEAR March/April 2010 New York-New Jersey Trail Conference — Connecting People with Nature since 1920 www.nynjtc.org Trail Conference Puts Its Experience New Digitally- Produced Catskill To Work at Van Cortlandt Park Trails Map Set n December 2008 the Friends of Van Now Available Cortlandt Park (FVCP) in the Bronx Icommissioned Trail Conference 6 maps expertise to assess the park’s trail network Expanded coverage and develop a strategic plan aimed at making its “hiking trails more sustain - Upgraded contour features able, better suited to serving the park Complete GPS plotting of trails users, and better able to highlight and pro - tect the park’s unique natural resources.” The Trail Conference is pleased to One year later the group had in hand a announce the completely new, digitally 112-page report and five-phase work plan. produced ninth edition of our Catskill It also had a $180,000 grant from the Trails map set. This six-map set shows all federal Consolidated Appropriations Act designated trails within the Catskill Park in to implement phase 1 recommended New York, covering more than 325,000 improvements, thanks to representation by acres of protected land. It also shows the Congressman Eliot Engle. location of all 35 peaks in the Catskills over “We were very lucky to have come across 3,500 feet in elevation. Over 100 miles of the Trail Conference as we searched for con - When the Friends of Van Cortlandt Park needed trails advice, they came to the Trail Conference. the Long Path, from Minnewaska State sulting firms to complete our Trails Plan,” Park Preserve to Huntersfield Mountain, says Christina Taylor, executive director of For the Trail Conference, the FVCP While the park offers an array of recre - are shown on the map set, and the eastern FVCP. “We couldn’t be happier with the commission brought welcome revenue and ational facilities that include golf courses end of the 563-mile-long Finger Lakes Trail resulting plan. Now that we are ready to appreciated recognition and visibility. Van (2), cricket pitches (13), baseball fields is also included. implement, I am happy that we have a true Cortlandt Park, with 1,146 acres, is the (18), basketball courts (7), soccer fields (7), partnership with the Trail Conference that fourth largest park in New York City and is handball courts (17), bocce courts (2) and will continue during this process. I’m find - a crucial outdoor recreational resource for a Gaelic football field (1), it also sustains ing that their expertise is unlimited.” the borough’s residents. continued on page 3 Lessons in Brook Ridge lean-to. I and two girlfriends a trail and a lean-to. Which trail and lean- were dropped off by my Dad with lots of to was an easy choice: the Dry Brook Ridge Stewardship at last-minute advice. We spent a sleepless Trail from the Millbrook trailhead to a night there. Not because we were scared or point 1.5 miles along the trail, and of Catskill Lean-tos anything, but rather, at age 14 with no par - course the lean-to itself, is what I adopted. By Laurie Rankin ents around, you do all types of “no rules” The trail is little used, the lean-to is in great things, like stay up all night! shape, and it has always been a pure pleas - The first night that I spent in the woods in Move the clock forward a number of ure to do my “job.” a lean-to without my parents in attendance years, lots of hiking later. I joined the Trail A few years after adopting the lean-to was at the little used, but very wild Dry Conference for the purpose of maintaining and trail, I had a conversation with a local Girl Scout leader about her dismay at hav - ing taken her troop on a “dead-end” community project, where they planned and worked on a flower garden, only to have the property sold and to be told that it was now off limits. I suggested adopting the Dry Brook Ridge Trail and lean-to with The new digital edition of these maps me. The Catskill Park would always remain contains a number of enhancements over public property, and the girls would never the previous analog edition. The coverage of be told it was off limits. the maps has been extended to include So it was that a group of adults, girls ages Bearpen Mountain State Forest, Vernooy 10 to 12, and myself headed up the trail Kill State Forest, Bluestone Wild Forest, and one morning. The goal was the lean-to for state forest land just north of the Catskill lunch. There must have been no fewer than Park boundary. As with the previous edition, a thousand questions. “Where is the near - four maps are used to show the majority of est telephone?” “Are there bears in the the Forest Preserve. However, two new maps woods?” “Where do I go to the bathroom?” and three inset maps have also been includ - Each step was an education for the girls ed to expand the area covered. and for several of them, the steps were fear - The distance between elevation contour A T T ful ones due to the newness of this lines has been decreased from 100 feet to E P R endeavor. We took our time, cleared the 50 feet for easier identification of steep ter - E P P trail, learned what trail markers were, and rain, and trail mileage figures now appear A N Girl Scouts (see story) and college students (above and see boxed story on page 5) are S never made it anywhere near the lean-to on next to the trails on the map fronts. Recent learning outdoor stewardship skills at lean-tos in the Catskills. our first trip! continued on page 9 But they came back! With each trip, the Printed with the support of Novartis Pharmaceuticals girls’ confidence in their outdoor skills grew, as did their sense of responsibility for VOLUME XXXVII, N UMBER 2 ISSN 0749-1352 The new hiking season Non-Profit keeping the trail and lean-to in shape. I US Postage Paid well remember the first time one of them approaches! Get off on the Permit No. 1239 Bellmawr, N.J. found a piece of litter left behind on the right foot with up-to-date trail. They were MAD! How dare anyone dirty up their trail. And the lean-to... The maps from the Trail first time that we actually made it to the Conference. See the lean-to, one little girl asked to borrow my knife so she could carve her initials in a log. complete list on page 12. continued on page 4 Page 2 March/April 2010 www.nynjtc.org The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference Special Report VOLUME XXXVII, NO.2 MARCH /A PRIL 2010 GEORGETTE WEIR EDITOR LOUIS LEONARDIS GRAPHIC DESIGNER The TRAIL WALKER (USPS Permit #1239) (ISSN 0749-1352) is published bi-monthly by the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference as a benefit of membership. Subscriptions are available to libraries only at $15.00 a year. Periodical postage paid at Mahwah, N.J., and additional offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to the address below. Opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily represent the policy or position of the Conference. Contributions of typed manuscripts, photos, and drawings are welcome. Manuscripts may be edited for style and length. Send SASE for writers’ guidelines. Submission deadlines for the TRAIL WALKER are January 15 (Mar./Apr. issue), March 15 (May/June issue), May 15 (July/Aug. issue), July 15 (Sept./Oct. issue), September 15 (Nov./Dec. issue), November 15 (Jan./Feb. issue). Unsolicited contributions cannot be acknowledged unless accompanied by SASE. For information on advertising rates, please write or call. Copyright 2010 by: New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, Inc. 156 Ramapo Valley Road (Rt. 202) Mahwah, NJ 07430 201-512-9348 e-mail: [email protected] editorial e-mail: [email protected] World Wide Web: www.nynjtc.org October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009 Rolling Up Our Conference hard. We had to let staff mem - bers go, not fill other positions when they Our full Annual Report Sleeves, Rolling became vacant, impose partial and tempo - can be viewed and downloaded rary furloughs on staff, and reduce benefits. online at www.nynjtc.org. with the Punches They rolled up their sleeves and rolled with the punches. HIGHLIGHTS of PROGRAM It was just day four of the new fiscal year. A So did our volunteers. When we added Mission Statement ACCOMPLISHMENTS FY09 The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference is a speaker from outside the Trail Conference up the numbers at the end of the fiscal year, federation of member clubs and individuals came to our first-ever Hike-a-thon to give we saw that we had more volunteers— 1,738 miles of trails maintained, dedicated to providing recreational hiking our organization an award for “extraordi - 1,636 individuals—actively volunteering mapped, and otherwise supported opportunities in the region, and representing the nary volunteer-powered public service.” than ever before—a more than 25% interests and concerns of the hiking community. by 1,636 volunteers and 99 Impressively, Kevin Trotta of the Global increase over two years! The Conference is a volunteer-directed public member clubs service organization committed to: Sports Alliance spoke words that captured Hard choices, hard work, and deep com - • Developing, building, and maintaining the Trail Conference at its best and echoed mitment from our members helped the New trail network opened at hiking trails.