Trail Conference volunteers are working hard to protect and improve the trail experience on the Highlands Trail. Everybody knows about the Appalachian Trail—the 174 miles of A.T. maintained by the Trail Conference in New Jersey and New York are well-hiked, with some places seeing more traffic than they can handle. The Highlands Trail, in comparison, is something of a
American Trails hosts the 24th International Trails Symposium and Training Institute in Syracuse, N.Y., April 28 through May 1, and the Trail Conference will be well-represented at this biennial gathering of trail leaders. Staff and volunteers will be making presentations alongside some of our partners on the following topics important to our mission and in connecting people to
The Trail Conference welcomes Brent Boscarino to our trail family. Brent Boscarino joined the Trail Conference in January as our invasive species citizen science program coordinator. He spent the previous 10 years as a high school science teacher and environmental outreach coordinator at the Poughkeepsie Day School in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and previously the Harvey School
Cheers to 3,000 volunteers, 1,300 steps, and 14 years of the Bear Mountain Trails Project! The completion of the Bear Mountain Trails Project was momentous for the Trail Conference and all our project partners. The Appalachian Trail at Bear Mountain was rebuilt with more than 1,300 granite steps from the bottom of the mountain to its summit—work completed over 14 years
Volunteers are our superheroes. Every day, we celebrate their passion, dedication, and leadership that make the trails we all love possible. Trail Conference volunteers make incredible commitments to the trails and lands they love. Our success as an organization comes from the hard work, dedication, and support of the many volunteers who selflessly share their time. On
Another mile of the Long Path has been permanently preserved, thanks to the efforts of Trail Conference volunteers and staff. This mostly forested, 149-acre parcel is located in the Town of Blenheim, Schoharie County, in New York. The parcel is adjacent to Burnt-Rossman Hills State Forest, located 35 miles northwest of the Catskill Park by trail. Future plans are
Trail Conference volunteer father-daughter team Otto + Olivia are blazing the way for adventure! Together, they cut sheets of aluminum into 290 blazes for trails across North Jersey, including Ringwood State Park, Norvin Green State Forest, and Ramapo Valley County Reservation. They also snipped corners and drilled nail guide holes for each of the 290 blazes. Plus: They recently adopted a trail
The Trail Conference has been awarded a $250 grant from ExtremeTerrain’s Clean Trail Grant Program. The program provides a grant for organizations for their next trail improvement projects. The Trail Conference will use the grant to provide food and refreshments for participants at the annual National Trails Day event at Trail Conference Headquarters at the historic Darlington Schoolhouse on
When the lumber required to build this bridge needed to be quickly hauled to the worksite, the trail community responded to get the job done. Many years ago, a wonderful rustic bridge was built along the Two Brooks Trail in the Pequannock Watershed by the North Jersey Trail Crew. However, time and weather compromised the structure, and
In spring 2018, the New Jersey Appalachian Trail Committee applied for and received a grant to replace the puncheon planking on the Appalachian Trail in the two fields immediately “trail south” of Route 94 in Vernon Township. The $7,475 from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy through the L.L.Bean Grants to A.T. Clubs program funded the replacement of 1,128 linear feet of planking.
The Trail Conference Conservation Corps has been recognized for efforts to complete the most ambitious rehabilitation ever conducted on the A.T. The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference’s Bear Mountain Trails Project received a 2019 Project of the Year Award by The Corps Network at a ceremony on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Feb. 13. This national award recognizes Corps
The Long Distance Trails Crew had another successful season making the Appalachian Trail safe and sustainable. The Long Distance Trails Crew (LDTC) had another exciting and very productive year putting forth a lot of volunteer effort into two Appalachian Trail projects. Starting in March, we completed a rehabilitation and short reroute of the A.T. on West Mountain, a project that we started in
