Creates group to address public-use issues at preserve
The state Department of Environmental Conservation on Oct. 21 announced the creation of a strategic planning initiative to address visitor congestion at the Catskill Forest Preserve.
The DEC said a 20-member advisory group will make recommendations to achieve “actionable management solutions” to address increased public use of the park. Trails in the Catskills saw a 60 percent increase in use between 2007 and 2017 and tourism in the Adirondack and Catskill parks is up 22 percent since 2011, the DEC said.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in his State of the State address, directed the DEC to address overcrowding at the forest preserve. He also called on the agency to deploy sustainable trail crews to make trails more durable to increased use; develop new visitor flow solutions to better manage traffic and hikers; and initiate education programs to promote stewardship practices.
The state said it had six goals for managing public use in the Catskill Park Region: (1) ensure public safety along roadways, at trailheads, and in interior areas; (2) address impacts on areas experiencing unsustainable public use; (3) protect the natural resources and recreation infrastructure; (4) provide a quality recreation experience; (5) support local economic vitality; and (6) ensure that science/fact-driven decisions are made with the best available data.
The advisory group includes Ramsay Adams, the executive director of Catskill Mountainkeeper; David Brooks, the supervisor of the Town of Denning; Joshua Ginsberg of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies; Joshua Howard, executive director of the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference; and Cathy Pedler and Michael Barrett of the Adirondack Mountain Club.
To help reduce congestion, the DEC said it will promote alternative hikes and Leave No Trace principles at the preserve. The group is expected to complete its study by the end of 2021, the DEC said.
Can we please start this process here in the Hudson Valley — specifically on Route 9D between Beacon and Cold Spring?
Parking and overuse of trails is crazy bad and getting worse. Tired of hearing all the reasons why nothing can be done.
Start with raising parking tickets to $500 or more. Right now the tickets are being treated like an admission fee too many are willing to pay. Who has jurisdiction and is there some kind of plan? Or else Citizen’s Action anyone?
This is all because of Big Brain New York state government agencies who think they’re doing New York a favor and going overboard in the last number of years advertising how wonderful the Catskills is.
If it didn’t ruin normal life that would be fine but now I have 1,000 people speeding past my country house every weekend. And they are speeding up and down the back mountain road which also some big brain decided to widen.
The other day I saw a huge white truck that nearly ran me off the road and many Lexus and BMWs which we never saw, clearly day-trippers speeding and trying to kill the residents. All these day-trippers think it’s a big joke but they are ruining our communities. Or we have renters who invest nothing in our community nor pay the taxes I do. I hope that when COVID-19 has come down these people will be taking their stupid cruises instead.
The only money these tourists are spending is going into the local store and buying beer. I put every money of my savings into buying a tiny country home that I hope to enjoy and now it’s noise garbage and disgusting people. These tourists have no respect for our area unlike years ago when they did.
It’s a crap shoot to get into Minnewaska for the past year or two or three or more! It forces many hikers to go off-trail or enter the park at non-entry level trailheads. As a local hiker and someone who lives virtually next to the park, I don’t even attempt to go and hike there any longer. It’s not fun anymore. I realize that we all have a right to the park but the park is breaking down a such a fast rate.
Just went up to the Seven Lake Region near Sloatsburg and Palisades and it was so crowded it was unbelievable. Most of the trails and parking areas were closed to the public. I don’t understand this. There are Stone buildings going to decay not being used, visitor centers being decayed and everything is closed. What is going on with the parks?
Please do something about the trash problem. People just leave water bottles and other trash everywhere they go. If they can carry it in, they can carry it out. I was at Kaaterskill Falls a few months ago and I picked up five bags of trash, including diapers. Come on, people, you can do better than that.
As a retired ecologist and naturalist who has both hiked and studied the ecology of the Catskill Park and Preserve and who has seen first hand, in the last 20 years, a steady erosion of the Catskill natural areas from the calculated efforts by the State of New York and the DEC to encourage tourism and recreation within the park lands, without any effort to “preserve” the Catskill ecology, I was not surprised at Governor Cuomo’s attempt to undo the resultant environmental damage to state lands. I had the dubious pleasure, along with my wife, to attend last year, at the State Capitol in Albany, the Catskill Park Coalition lobbying attempts to wheedle more money from state legislators to fund more tourism and recreation projects in the Catskill Park. This daylong lobbying event included such 2020 budget priorities as $300,000 for Smart Growth Grants, $250,000 in NYSDOT funding for the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byways for regional byway expansion, $50,000 for a feasibility study for a swimming area at Kenneth Wilson State Campground, $1 million for upgrades at the Belleayre Ski Center, $250,000 for a mountain bike plan in the Shandaken Wild Forest, $150,000 for the Catskills Visitor Center on Route 28 and $70 million for the DEC Adventure NY. All of this, plus a nominal $500,000 for Shovel Ready Access and Stewardship projects in the Catskill Park that would further enhance tourism and recreation in the Catskill Park and Preserve. All at the expense of the delicate Catskill ecology, $350… Read more »
Wow — people who treat non-locals as interlopers should realize the the Catskill and Shawgunks park systems are open to all, tourists included. Equal access is the cornerstone laid when these parks were formed. I’m sorry the locals don’t want to share. A more welcoming attitude would help people learn and share the experience. Old,young, etc.- the parks are for everyone!
Unfortunately the ignorant will never care. They just see it as another entitlement.