NYNJTC.ORG FALL 2019 TRAIL WALKER NEW YORK-NEW JERSEY TRAIL CONFERENCE • CONNECTING PEOPLE WITH NATURE SINCE 1920 TRAILBLAZERSTRAILBLAZERS VOLUME XLVII, NUMBER 4 ISSN 0749-1352 We Are the Trail Conference: Leaders in Caring for Parks and Trails for 99 Years page 3 MAINTAINING 2,165 MILES OF TRAILS IN NY AND NJ 2 | Fall 2019 TRAIL WALKER • NEW YORK-NEW JERSEY TRAIL CONFERENCE nynjtc.org JENNIFER ZACK Staff Update Trail Con- Welcome, Tori ference in 2016 after Toast to the A.T. Victoria (“Tori”) Finn 21 years joined the Trail Confer- of military ence in August as our new service. Conserva- During his career he served tion Corps combat tours in Iraq and Manager. peace-keeping missions After grad- in Bosnia and received uating from numerous awards and rec- Rutgers ognitions. A firm believer University with a degree in in service to nation and sociology and women’s and community, Geoff was gender studies, Tori joined honored to work with our AmeriCorps Vista with AmeriCorps members. We NJ LEEP, a Newark-based thank Geoff for his service nonprofit that helps high on and off the trail and school students attain high- wish him the best. er education and careers. Jennifer Ghahari has She then joined NJ LEEP left her position as full time as a manager of Program Assistant. She their volunteer program. began vol- Tori’s experience in non- unteering profits, her passion for with the HEATHER DARLEY HEATHER service, and her love for the Trail Con- The completion of the Bear Moun- outdoors make her right ference in tain Trails Project was momentous at home in the position of 2017 and for the Trail Conference and all our Corps Manager. officially joined the staff in project partners. The Appalachian 2018. Jennifer came to the Trail at Bear Mountain was rebuilt Happy Trails to Trail Conference wanting with more than 1,300 granite steps Geoff, Jennifer to utilize her research and from the bottom of the mountain analytic skills for the to its summit—work completed Geoff Hamilton has left his greater good, and in par- over 14 years by more than 3,000 position as Trail Confer- ticular the environmental volunteers and Conservation ence Conservation Corps field. Good luck on your Corps members. This remarkable Manager. Geoff joined the next adventure! accomplishment was recognized nationally as a 2019 Project of the Year by The Corps Network. FINN VICTORIA In honor of this achievement, Bergen County, we gathered the trail community Trail Conference on June 21 for a summer solstice hike and champagne toast to cel- Host Korea ebrate the most ambitious reha- bilitation ever to take place on the Forest Service Appalachian Trail. Along the hike, On Aug. 27, delegates from Corps members, volunteers, and the Korea Forest Service staff who worked on the project visited Trail Conference shared stories about what it took Headquarters to learn to transform the A.T. at Bear from about public forest man- an eroded, washed-out, 10-foot- agement practices in the wide scar into a safe, sustainable United States. Hosted by footpath. This part of the Trail our partners at the Bergen features the first mountaintop sec- County Park System, the volunteer programs. Trail tion of the Appalachian Trail that visiting officials learned Conference staff led an is ADA-compliant, as well as Trails about the county’s tree interpretive walk next door for People, the first outdoor inter- management program, to Ramapo Valley Coun- pretive exhibit aimed at teaching as well as the Trail Con- ty Reservation, where a park visitors how trails are made. ference’s invasive species stone staircase built by our After the hike, participants en- management efforts and Conservation Corps and joyed light refreshments and min- our trail maintenance and volunteers was showcased. gled with fellow trail lovers from an overlook above the Hudson River. The evening concluded with a champagne toast in honor of ev- eryone who had a hand in this tre- mendous achievement. TRAIL WALKER (USPS Permit #970- Board of Directors 100) (ISSN: 0749-1352) is published Eddie Saiff Chair quarterly by the New York-New Patsy Wooters Vice Chair Jersey Trail Conference as a benefit Ken Posner Secretary of membership. Subscriptions are Dan Hoberman Counsel available to libraries only at $15 Beth Ravit Treasurer SEEK a year. Periodical postage paid at FOR Mahwah, N.J., and additional mailing TRAIL WALKER offices. Postmaster: Send address Directors YOURSELF changes to the address below. VOLUME XLVII, NO. 4 FAll 2019 Justin Bailey Katina Grays Susan Barbuto John Magerlein FALL FOR Copyright 2019 by: AMBER RAY EDITOR Walt Daniels Kathy Nolan TEPHANIE INDERER ESIGNER NATURE New York-New Jersey S H D Charles Gadol Dave Stuhr & Trail Conference, Inc. Andy Garrison Ned Whitney 600 Ramapo Valley Road MISSION STATEMENT ulstercountyalive.com Mahwah, NJ 07430 The New York-New Jersey Trail Senior Staff 201.512.9348 Conference is a volunteer-powered organization that builds, maintains, and Joshua Howard CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER Journey across a scenic byway, hike the Opinions expressed by the authors protects public trails. Together with Mary Perro CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER do not necessarily represent our partners, we strive to ensure that Don Weise DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR canopied forests of the Catskills, kayak the policy or position of the Trail the trails and natural areas we share Linda Rohleder LAND STEWARDSHIP DIRECTOR Conference. Submissions for print are sustainable and accessible for all to Kendra Baumer VOLUNTEER ENGAGEMENT the Hudson River, and marvel at nature’s consideration are welcome. Any enjoy for generations to come. MANAGER astounding beauty. unsolicited material accepted for Amber Ray COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER print may be edited for style and Will Smith INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGER length. Submission deadlines for The New York-New Jersey Trail TRAIL WALKER are Feb. 15 Conference is a volunteer, non-profit For a full list of staff, visit (Spring issue), May 15 (Summer 501 (c)(3) organization. nynjtc.org/about-us issue), Aug. 15 (Fall issue), Nov. 15 ULSTERCOUNTY email: [email protected] NEW YORK (Winter issue). For information on Printed on recycled content paper advertising rates, please write editorial email: [email protected] or call. PLEASE RECYCLE TRAIL WALKER website: www.nynjtc.org nynjtc.org TRAIL WALKER • NEW YORK-NEW JERSEY TRAIL CONFERENCE Fall 2019 | 3 We Are the Trail Conference even a few years ago—chal- support the vast network of FROM THE CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER lenges such as the unprece- With more than trails in the Hudson Valley. dented swell in popularity on 2,000 volunteers Training and deploying a Con- some trails thanks to social serving as the engine servation Corps was essential On Oct. 19, the New York- access to the media. We are operating in a in accomplishing both these New Jersey Trail Conference most diverse changing environment, both that powers the goals. The Trail Conference will turn 99 years old. That’s network of literally and figuratively. Our organization... we now fields several Corps crews nearly a century of service in trails in any partners count on us to stay have been able to every season and has become the greater New York metro- metropoli- focused on issues that affect adapt, evolve, and a training ground for future politan area ensuring open tan area. parks in the region, bringing grow in new and conservation leaders. (Read space is protected and people The in- together key constituencies, more on page 6.) have access to the outdoors via vestment marshaling resources, and exciting ways. Our history is steeped in ser- safe, well-maintained trails. these selfless individuals have seizing opportunities to keep Howard vice and resourcefulness. Our Though the landscape where made into the organization improving our public trail volunteers have enabled us to we serve looks very different and its mission is the foun- systems while maintaining evolve into an organization than it did in 1920, it’s quite dation on which outdoor the ecological integrity of trail for the needs of our partners that has developed cutting- extraordinary that the heart recreation in this region was lands. And so, with more than and the public led us to launch edge techniques to protect our of this organization beats with shaped. On the day the Trail 2,000 volunteers serving as the a Trail and Summit Stewards open spaces and train and de- the same passion and energy as Conference was established, engine that powers the organi- program in 2013 and a Con- velop the next generation of when it was founded. That pas- our founders and park officials zation’s ability to create great servation Corps program trail stewards, all while hold- sion and energy belongs to the met to plan the first system trail experiences, we have been the same year. Our Trail and ing true to the legacy of those volunteers who not only built of trails in Harriman State able to adapt, evolve, and grow Summit Stewards educate first volunteers who left New the Trail Conference into one Park. Fast-forward to this in new and exciting ways. and assist the public in the re- York City to tame the wilds of of the most resilient nonprofits August, when we convened Because the “trail experi- sponsible and enjoyable use of Harriman. We are proud to be in the region, but also literally land manager partners and ence” is about so much more trails; they have made signifi- trailblazers in both vision and built a network of more than leaders in the hiking, moun- than the trail itself, the Trail cant impact in improving user action. Our nimbleness in re- 2,100 miles of trails that con- tain biking, and equestrian Conference has made a com- safety and preparedness and sponding to needs, willingness nect the public with nature.