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For more information contact:
Pegi Adam
973-744-6090
Ed
Goodell, 201-512-9348
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20-year project:
APPALACHIAN SCENIC
TRAIL NJ CROSSING TO BE DEDICATED,
OCTOBER 20, 2002
Mahwah, NJ (October 1, 2002) – After 24 years of planning and
heroic volunteer effort, the Appalachian Scenic Trail boardwalk and
suspension bridge crossing, in Vernon Township, NJ, opened to hikers.
The mile-long boardwalk, with its 110-foot suspension bridge, will be
dedicated on October 20, 2002, at a ceremony hosted by Vernon Township
and the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, one of the key
organizing forces behind the trail’s creation. The dedication is
co-sponsored by the Appalachian Trail Conference, National Park
Service, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and New
Jersey Office of Travel & Tourism. New Jersey Governor James
McGreevey is the invited guest of honor and keynote speaker.
New Jersey dignitaries and participating organizations will salute
the estimated 500 volunteers who gave nearly 9,000 hours of time,
talent and sweat labor to bring the project to fruition.
The Pochuck boardwalk and bridge represent an extraordinary example
of cooperation among very disparate entities in both private and
public sectors. Its creation was sanctioned by every New Jersey
governor since the project was launched in 1982.
Designed to take hikers off the narrow, winding Sussex County Route
17, with an alternate trail between the Pochuck and Wawayanda
Mountains, the boardwalk and bridge form part of the Appalachian
Scenic Trail and make it possible to walk across New Jersey, from the
Delaware Water Gap to the New York border entirely on off-road trails.
The Pochuck section is accessible to hikers of all ages and abilities
and provides a unique floodplain crossing.
The area over which it extends is classified by the National Park
Service as an "Exceptional Resource Value Wetland,"
comprising 240 acres and a 3,000-foot wide floodplain crisscrossed by
tributaries and a quagmire into which a hiker can sink waist-deep,
even in dry summer months.
Meandering through it is Pochuck Creek, a non-delineated river with
a 60-foot wide stream channel that can be up to eight feet deep.
During extreme rains, it can rise six feet or more and be
fast-flowing, carrying trees and other debris downstream.
In flood conditions, the entire area resembles the prehistoric lake
it once was. More often, it is a beautiful marshy bog of tall grasses,
bushes and wild flowers, surrounded by hardwood and evergreen forest.
It is a habitat for a variety of threatened and endangered species and
offers an extraordinary hiking experience unlike any other on the
Appalachian Trail Scenic Park, that stretches from Maine to Georgia.
The project was coordinated by the New York-New Jersey Trail
Conference, one of the oldest hiking federations in the country. An
extraordinary number of dedicated organizations and individuals
volunteered time, materials and manual labor to construct the
crossing. Among these were the Appalachian Trail Conference; the
National Park Service; New Jersey Department of Environmental
Protection -Division of Parks & Forests; Vernon Township Municipal
Authorities; Purcell Associates Consulting Engineers; Builders
Association of North New Jersey; Jersey Central Power & Light;
General Public Utilities; Vernon Public Schools; St. Benedicts Prep
School and NY-NJ Trail Conference members.
The non-profit New York-New Jersey Trail Conference was formed in
1920 and currently is responsible for building and maintaining 1,500
miles of trails in New Jersey and New York, from the Delaware Water
Gap north through the Catskill Mountains and east to the Massachusetts
border. With a constituency of more than 100,000 hikers and
naturalists, the federation membership roster comprises 82
organizations and 7,500 individual members in the bi-state region. It
manages the Appalachian Trail in the two states and provides trail
construction and maintenance to national, state and municipal parks
and private land trusts. The Trail Conference also publishes
authoritative hiking maps and books of the region.
For further information, contact the New York - New Jersey Trail
Conference, 156 Ramapo Valley Road, Mahwah NJ 07430. Phone 201-
512-9348. Fax 201-512-9012. Website: www.nynjtc.org
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