After more than 20 years in the works, the Catskill Park will see its first-ever coordinator. McCrea Burnham, a 24-year veteran of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will work to bring together the needs and desires of disparate stakeholders, while seeking to preserve the park’s pristine natural environments in midst of skyrocketing visitation and climate change.
Burnham previously managed DEC’s trail development and construction contracts, and coordinated volunteer efforts from a statewide level.
State Sen. Michelle Hinchey (D-Saugerties) sponsored the legislation for creating the new position, which was first recommended in a report back in 1999. The legislation passed unanimously in the state Senate during the 2021 legislative session.
A Blue Line defines the boundaries of the Catskill Park, consisting of 700,000 acres spanning parts of western Ulster, Greene, Sullivan and Delaware counties. It is designated as Forever Wild under the state constitution.
Burnham said right off the bat he wants to improve and streamline communications in the park, which includes multiple towns and villages, counties and two separate DEC regions, Region 3 which includes Ulster County and Region 4, which includes Greene County.
He admitted that can lead to some confusion among the public, who might be unsure of where to find information.
“That’s really a DEC inside thought process,” he said. “The general public doesn’t realize there are different regions.”
But the park is wrestling with far larger scale issues, including a significant increase in users, coupled with fears of overuse, litter and damage of resources when users leave designated trails and enter habitats.
Burnham said the Catskill Park has seen a nine percent increase in users overall from 2010 with a massive spike during the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in 2020 when many other entertainment options were shut down over fears of the spread of the virus and visitors flocked to the park in unprecedented numbers.
Hinchey said her office estimates 2.7 million people visited the Catskills in 2020. And that leaves DEC officials scrambling to strike a careful balance between ecology and economy.
“There are economic opportunities created by having the public come and enjoy the forest preserve,” Burnham said. “It gives people jobs and people buy gas and dinner. Article 14, of the state constitution demands the parks be open to the public for free use…I want to concentrate on natural resource protection over other things, while also making sure the economy is going strong in the Catskills. It’s a balancing act.”
And to serve these new visitors the agency is working to build infrastructure sustainability that ranges from parking areas and restrooms to the trails themselves.
Public input key to any future plans for the park
Burham asserts DEC has to work with the public or the whole plan will fail. He laid out his plan for accomplishing this. “The first thing is we’ll listen to the groups, the communities, the towns, the politicians and listen to people who come and visit,” he said.
Next on the docket will be finding common ground between these constituents, then taking on doable things with protecting natural resources at the forefront of any new initiatives, though also acknowledging the need to help the local economy.
He said DEC will not be the only ones making decisions about the future of the park and while working with the public, the agency will work alongside not-for-profit groups like the Catskill Center, Catskill Mountainkeeper as part of the Catskill Advisory Group.
Beyond upgrades and conservation issues on state lands inside the Blue line, the Catskill Advisory Group will also be working on a number of equity and diversity issues. These include advertising the parks to people in other areas of the state who may not have thought about visiting a park, examining job descriptions for bias and marketing jobs in communities in markets where the agency hasn’t traditionally posted.
And as time goes on he wants these initiatives to continuously evolve, instead of relying on 10-year-old reports.
Paid stewards will help guide visitors protect resources
One of the initiatives the new legislation calls for is a public-private partnership program to bring paid stewards to the park. Under the program, state funding will enable the not-for-profit Catskill Center, NJ NY Trail Conference and Catskill Mountainkeeper to hire and train stewards. They will help orient the public to the trail networks and educate them on the principles of leaving no trace and taking out everything they bring in.
“They will stand at the trailheads and meet the public as they come,” Burnham said. “They will have a nice smiling face instead of a uniformed presence. They will be educated about the proper use of state lands and staying on trails.” Other goals are to include users respecting each other, wildlife and expanding care of the land.
Burnham said any search and rescue component of the Stewards program will work in concert with the existing state park rangers.
The stewards will also be able to direct people to other recreation areas when popular spots like the Kaaterskill Falls in Palenville are at capacity, Hinchey said. Burnham noted that 100,000 people visited Kaaterskill Falls in 2020.
Burham said he was proud of a number of upgrades he helped shepherd at Kaaterskill Falls. Once painted by pioneering Hudson River School painter Thomas Cole in the 19th century it has remained an immensely popular site for hikers ever since.
Burnham said the upgrades which were finished a few years ago include a new viewing platform and upgrades to the trail itself and, most recently, bear-proof garbage cans to cut down on visitors leaving behind litter.
He said the upgrades came after a number of incidents of severe injuries and even deaths after visitors fell after walking out into the stream itself at the top of the falls and subsequently slipping and falling to their deaths.
“This appears to have reduced severe injuries and it’s been a few years since one of these unfortunate incidents,” Burham said. But he cautioned that they could happen. “It is a cliff,” he said.
He said one of the key things hikers can do to keep safe is to always stay on the trail systems throughout state forest lands. “First you protect our natural resources and you protect yourself…When you trample you do harm natural resources.” And returning to Kaaterskill Falls, he noted the land is made up of a crumbly shale that is not supportive and causes a lot of slips and falls.
High Peaks suffering
Hinchey said new funding will pave the way for officials to run a trolley bus shuttle from Tannersville to popular trailheads in the area to help alleviate parking concerns along the highways at trailheads.
Closer to home, Blue Hole in the Sundown Wild Forest in the town of Denning has gotten a lot of attention as usage has surged and concerns about litter and other waste and habitat destruction have grown. Burnham said a recently implemented permit system that is constantly monitored has helped to reduce visitation and waste to more manageable levels.
He said the high peaks in Ulster County are also suffering from a shortage of parking with so many people wanting to use them. “They’re getting hit pretty hard,” he said.
Officials are also monitoring climate change and Burnham believes the forest reserve with its numerous trees will be well served to be a key solution to lowering carbon emissions in the skies. “Trees sequester carbon,” he said.
But more frequent storms are causing unforeseen erosion problems on the trails forcing DEC officials to rebuild rails to take climate change into consideration while ensuring they use sustainable materials that shed water appropriately.
Working alongside the New York City DEP
Burnham’s job will also involve working with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection as 10 percent of the Catskill Park as the city owns over 10 percent of the land within the Blue Line. The city DEP has frequently clashed with local environmental advocates over discharges of turbid water into area streams from its reservoirs in the Catskills which provide much of the water used by New York City.
Burham said state forest lands play a key role in offering watershed protection that helps to keep the city’s water so clean. “What we do does affect NYC,” he said, noting that the Blue Hole feeds into the city’s watershed.
Game-Changing improvements
Hinchey said the new position will be a game-changer and help to bring the Catskills on par with the Adirondack Park when it comes to investment. This includes first-time funding for the Catskill Park including an overuse line that’s typically reserved for the Adirondack Park.
“This unlocks new funding to use, this is an entirely new packet of money,” she said.
This funding will support more trails alongside the stewardship program, Hinchey said.
She admitted the Catskills just don’t have the infrastructure to accommodate so many people. The Adirondacks have seen far more investment despite the Catskills being the closest park people from New York City and the Tri-State Area encounter, the Senator noted.
And Hinchey said this new position will strengthen a push for more improvements to the park in the future.
“Having someone who will now be able to be dedicated to supporting, advocating and protecting is crucial,” Hinchey said. “It’s important to have someone looking out for our benefit, some who understands the nuances and partnerships.”
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