I am a resident of Suffern, and I have lived in Rockland County for 16 years. I am also the President of Sterling Forest Partnership, one of the principal organizations in the public/private partnership advocating for the successful protection of over 18,000 acres of Sterling Forest, the newest state park.

More importantly, I am the Executive Director of the NY-NJ Trail Conference. For over 80 years, we have built and maintained 1,300 miles of hiking trails in the bi-state region, including over 200 m9iles in Harriman Bear Mount State Park, and the first 160 miles of the Appalachian Trail 75 years ago.

The Trail Conference has 10,000 members, affiliated with over 90 hiking clubs representing over 100,000 individuals. Both the Partnership and The Trail Conference are opposed to the location of the proposed electric power plants or of any more industrial development there.

We support the addition of Torne Valley to the Palisade Interstate Park Commission with whom we have been partners for 80 years. We have 20-30 miles of hiking trails near the Valley - to the top of the Torne, the Pulpit, the Russian Bear and the Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail on Nordkopf Mountain, one of the very first trails built by the Trail Conference in Harriman.

We will build more trails in the new Torne Valley addition to the state park, making connections to the existing trails, but only if the power plants are not built.

This is a quality of life issue. The quality of life is not just more electrical power, more amperage in our homes, better ratable for local government or even cheaper rates should occur.

The quality of life is the natural environment and our relationship to it. Protecting Torne Valley is not just about protecting plant and animal species, it is about nurturing the human species, the human spirit that is so connected to nature through hiking or other activities.

Last winter, some colleagues and I walked from my house on Route 202 over the ridge into Torne Valley. As we descended into the Valley, we were all struck by the pristine wildness that reached our heart, our spirit and our soul.

I urge any legislator, before voting to locate the power plants in Torne Valley, to take that walk in the woods, and let Torne Valley touch your soul. Thank you.