Minnewaska State Park Preserve Grows by 291 Acres

Minnewaska State Park Preserve, a stony jewel among New York’s parklands, just added more land to love.

Thanks to a recent acquisition, 291 acres have been added to Minnewaska, dramatically expanding protection of the magnificent Shawangunk Ridge. This addition not only safeguards vital wildlife habitats and stunning Shawangunk landscapes, it also opens the door to future recreational improvements.

Minnewaska now spans nearly 24,000 acres, making it the third-largest state park in New York. The park attracts outdoor enthusiasts of all kinds with its scenic waterfalls and sky lakes, striking white cliffs, rugged pitch pine terrain, and vast network of carriage roads and hiking paths to explore. Both the Shawangunk Ridge Trail and The Long Path, two premier long-distance trails maintained by the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference, travel through Minnewaska State Park Preserve.

The newly announced expansion is a significant step toward New York’s 30×30 goal of conserving 30% of its lands and waters by 2030. Governor Kathy Hochul celebrated the achievement:

“Our State Parks are some of New York’s most-treasured resources, and I’m excited to expand Minnewaska State Park Preserve to better connect future generations with New York’s parklands,” she said in a press release.

The $641,000 purchase of land located in the Town of Rochester, Ulster County, was made possible through a partnership between the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and the Open Space Institute, with funding from New York’s Environmental Protection Fund.

The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference proudly maintains and protects many of the trails in Minnewaska State Park Preserve. Want to help safeguard this precious landscape for future generations? Click below to get involved!