New York – New Jersey Trail Conference
The New York – New Jersey Trail Conference (NYNJTC) is a federation of approximately 10,000 individual members and about 100 member organizations (mostly hiking clubs and environmental organizations). The organization, now located in Mahwah, New Jersey, is volunteer-based.
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[edit] Purpose of organization
The Trail Conference is dedicated to building and maintaining marked hiking trails, protecting related open space in the New York and New Jersey and publishing books and trail maps. The combined membership of the clubs in the Conference is over 100,000. The Trail Conference coordinates the maintenance of nearly 1,600 miles (2,600 km) of foot trails from the Delaware Water Gap north to beyond the Catskills.
[edit] History of organization
On October 19, 1920 local hiking clubs gathered in the Log Cabin atop the Abercrombie & Fitch sporting goods store in New York City. The meeting was proposed by Meade C. Dobson of the Boy Scouts and organized by Major William A. Welch, general manager of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission to plan a system of hiking trails to make Harriman-Bear Mountain State Park more accessible to the public. In addition to Welch and Dobson, those attending included Raymond H. Torrey, who edited the Outings page of the New York Evening Post, and included representatives from the Appalachian Mountain Club, the Fresh Air Club, the Green Mountain Club, the Tramp and Trail Club, the Associated Mountaineering Clubs of America and the League of Walkers. Major Welch guided the organization during its first ten years. Raymond Torrey served as its Secretary. The current Executive Director is Edward Goodell according to a New York Times article published on May 7, 2009. The New York Times article goes on to say the New York - New Jersey Trail Conference will move their headquarters into the Historic Darlington Schoolhouse in Mahway New Jersey after major renovations take place. The first trails built were the Ramapo-Dunderberg, the Timp-Torne, the Tuxedo-Mount Ivy Trails, and the Boy Scouts' White Bar Trail; all are still in use.
In 1922 a proposal by forester Benton MacKaye to build a 2,100-mile (3,400 km) trail from Maine to Georgia (subsequently named the Appalachian Trail) was publicized by the New York Evening Post. The project generated great enthusiasm, and on October 7, 1923, the first section of the trail, from Bear Mountain west through Harriman State Park to Arden, New York, was opened by groups of enthusiastic volunteers.
In 1923, the Palisades Interstate Trail Conference changed its name to the New York New Jersey Trail Conference. As more trails were built during the 1930s, a system of trail maintenance was developed giving each hiking club a share of responsibility. Over the ensuing years, as the number of miles of trails maintained has grown, the Trail Conference has relied on trained individual volunteers as well to maintain the trails. They also have developed skilled volunteer trail crews to repair and build trails.
[edit] Land Acquisition and Preservation
On May 31, 2011 the Times Herald-Record reported by Stephen Sacco that the New York - New Jersey Trail Conference had helped expand the Huckleberry Ridge State Forest in Orange County, New York by transferring 389 acres from the New York - New Jersey Trail Conference holdings to the State of New York. The Huckleberry Ridge State Forest grew to 1500 acres with the acres purchased from the Trail Conference. The Department of Environmental Conservation of New York paid $1.55 million for the land purchase from the New York - New Jersey Trail Conference, the Times Herald-Record reports. Stephen Sacco goes on to report that throughout New York and New Jersey, the New York - New Jersey Trail Conference has managed to preserve 2400 acres through direct land purchases in the past 10 years. Protecting the 43 mile long Shawangunk Ridge Trail has been a priority for the New York - New Jersey Trail Conference and other conservation groups including Open Space Institute, The Nature Conservancy, and The Orange County Land Trust was also reported by the Times Herald-Record.
[edit] Trail Conference Associations
The Trail Conference participates in, or attends in an advisory or information gathering capacity, a number of governmental, quasi-governmental, or not-for-profit agencies, including:
- Adirondack Mountain Club
- Catskill Mountain 3500 Club
- Appalachian Trail Conservancy
- National Park Service
- Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area
- Open Space Institute
- New Jersey Chapter of the Sierra Club
- Palisades Interstate Park Commission
- Rivers and Trails Coalition
- Shawangunk Ridge Coalition
- Highlands Coalition
- Sterling Forest Partnership
- Teatown Lake Reservation
- NYS Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation - Taconic Region
- US Forest Service
- New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection; Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife; Division of Parks & Forestry; and State Trails Council
- New York State Department of Environmental Protection and State Trails Council
- The Nature Conservancy
- The Orange County Land Trust
