Today’s communications continue to rely heavily on emails. With increasing email use comes more filters to help sort incoming emails. Sometimes emails that have many recipients, like newsletters, may be sorted into bulk email, junk, or other non-primary folders.
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Safety First: Catskill Visitor Center is Renting Crampons
Winter hiking in the Catskills requires preparedness. While the ground outside your door may seem fine for regular hiking footwear, the trails could tell a different story. You can buy or rent crampons from the Catskills Visitor Center.
The Smith Pond Trail is closed until further notice. Due to a construction project that will address drainage issues near Rte. 28, the trailhead to the Smith Pond Trail is being used as a staging area. As soon as the work allows, the trail will be reopened. For those who are working on the CMC Hiking Trails Challenge, the requirement to hike the Smith Pond Trail is temporarily suspended. You may submit applications without hiking this trail. After we announce its reopening, It will be required hiking again for new applicants. Thanks for your cooperation.
The enjoyment of classic cross-country skiing is greatly enhanced by skiing on a groomed surface. These conditions are made possible by proper grooming equipment to prepare the snow. Fortunately, SUNY Delhi College has acquired a specialized utility vehicle with snow treads and a classic track setter. The result is a quality trail system at the college’s Golf Course, which is open to the public at no cost. David DeForest, Assistant Professor in Applied Sciences, is the leading force in maintaining the trails each winter. The trails begin at the Bluestone Pub and Restaurant at the foot of Scotch Mountain Road (off Arbor Hill Road). There are about four miles of trails with easy and intermediate loops. They are situated in a peaceful setting that includes two crossings of the Little Delaware River and great views of Bell Hill. Complete grooming of the trail system takes about three hours, while re-grooming is also conducted to keep the surface and tracks clean and firm. This promotes the skiing experience because the recessed tracks allow the skier to look around, enjoy the scenery, and maintain good form, instead of trudging through snow.
April 18, 2021 Usage of the Catskill Park and its facilities has grown tremendously for the past several years. During the pandemic of 2020-21, the growth only increased as folks everywhere turned to the great outdoors for a safe space to seek recreation. As the pandemic winds down, we anticipate a sustained increase in Park visitorship and in use of our trails, other infrastructure and wild places throughout the Catskills.
The rise in usage has resulted in crowded parking lots, illegal roadside parking and an exponential increase in garbage being left behind by park visitors at high use areas like Kaaterskill Falls, Kaaterskill Clove and Colgate Lake. To help mitigate these problems, parking regulations have been expanded and strictly enforced. Dozens of volunteers have been helping park staff and trail stewards clean up after the heavy traffic of weekend visits. Please be responsible and pack out what you pack into these beautiful natural environments.
Another effect of increased usage is seen on the trails themselves. Foot beds are widening far beyond the acceptable width, trampling adjacent plant life and contributing to erosion. Hikers should stay on the trail, avoid walking side-by-side and pass other hikers carefully, yielding where possible and maintaining single file at all times. It is up to us to protect the Catskills wilderness and preserve it for future generations. To do so, it is important that we cooperate in practicing sustainable use that benefits us all.
Always follow Leave No Trace principles when recreating in conserved natural places wherever you go.
SUNY Delhi students volunteered with the CMC to join in Community Service Day activities in Delhi. Part of the Village of Delhi Bicentennial celebration, the crew worked on maintenance of the Bulldog Trails on Delaware Academy lands. The day’s vols were 4-year veterans of the CMC/SUNY Delhi collaboration. We are so proud to work with these great students on a project that serves the Delhi and Catskills hiking communities.
Thanks to Dominic Croce, Amber Garcia, Ryan Ford, Logan Grasso and Fletcher Nisbet!
April 21, 2021This past year has been a time change for the Delhi Trails. First, a logging operation began that forced the closing of the northern section of the Gribley Trail last fall and was then suspended for winter. It will resume soon. Watch for an announcement of the temporary closing of the trail.
Second, the southern section of the Smith Pond Trail was closed due to the wishes of the private landowner, who had previously permitted it. We are currently working on a rerouting that will include two sections. One section will return to the Smith Pond kiosk on Rt. 28. A spur will connect to the parking lot at the Immanuel Lutheran Church. Hikers will be able to hike a loop and return to either of the parking areas. (Please do not park in the church lot during Sunday services.) Overflow parking is available at the Sheldon Drive parking lot on the north side of Delaware Academy.
Third, later this year we will reroute part of the Gribley Trail so that the hiking trail is not co-aligned with the snowmobile trail. By doing so, we will create a safer and better experience for snowmobilers and for hikers.
April 8, 2021 After a long hiatus due to the pandemic, we are happy to restart our in-person event schedule. The Annual Ephemeral Wildflower Hike in Kelly Hollow is always popular. Check it out and register early as space is limited.
We will continue to follow social distancing protocols, with masks on in the parking lot and optional on the trails. Please maintain safe distancing at all times.
We discourage carpooling unless occupants are from the same household, or have all been vaccinated. We will not arrange carpooling at this time.
We want to call your attention to a proposed energy development here in the Catskills that is audacious and concerning. Premium Energy Holdings of California has filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to begin a preliminary study for a project that would build a dam in the Catskill Park. The resulting reservoir would be the source of water that would be released periodically to generate electricity by turning turbines that would be installed below ground level. The water would be drawn and pumped up from NYC’s Ashokan Reservoir. In addition, power lines would need to be installed. Interestingly, the company, Premium Energy, did not notify the NYCDEP, the controlling agency, of their plans to file for a permit. Nor did they explore the idea with any other Catskills entity, apparently. They have demonstrated a lack of respect for the Catskill Park, the watershed and for local communities that suggests a warning for how they will proceed if they receive a permit.
Three possible sites for the dam have been proposed. Each would create major impacts on Catskills communities, the protected lands of the Catskill Park, important infrastructure, Catskills fisheries and, of course, on water quality in the NYC watershed supply system. Each would flood approximately 200 to 300 acres and require a dam of over 2000 feet in length.
While we support all responsible efforts to create alternative means of producing electric energy, those efforts must take into account the effects on communities and on conserved areas that are vital to the ecological health and well being of our planet. The Catskill Park, America’s First Wilderness, is such a place. Established by New York State and protected by the state constitution as “forever wild’, it deserves and must receive the highest degree of protection possible. The Premium Energy project would cause permanent and irreparable harm, and, therefore, it must be rejected.
It is the CMC’s opinion that the proposal is without merit and that FERC should deny the application. We encourage individual citizens; to express their opposition by posting a comment with FERC by using this link: https://ferconline.ferc.gov/QuickComment.aspx. Comments are due no later than April 12.
