The addition of a beautiful 435-acre parcel (photo) along the Southern Gunks Greenway to Huckleberry State Forest depends upon funding for land preservation in New York's EPF.
See Trail Conference talking points about the 2014 NYS Open Space Plan.
New York State Budget 2015-16: Enhance the Environmental Protection Fund to Expand Economic and Environmental Benefits
Plan Now to Attend March 9, 2014: EPF Lobby Day in Albany.
The Friends of New York’s Environment is a partnership of more than 100 environmental, public health, agricultural, recreational and urban groups that supports the Environmental Protection Fund. The Trail Conference is a member of the coalition. For the upcoming year, we seek $200 million for the EPF.
Established in 1993, the EPF is the State's dedicated source of funding for critical environmental programs that protect what we love about New York - our clean drinking water, our magnificent parks, and our family farms. It is primary source of funding for open space protection in the state, a key focus for the Trail Conference.
Sadly, No money to protect land on the Shawangunk Ridge has been in the Governor's recent land protection budget proposals.
This, despite the fact that the state has identified the Ridge as a priority area for open space protection, worked with the Trail Conference in the past to add land to ridgetop state forests, and is funding Trail Conference efforts to promote a Gunks Greenway on the Shawangunk Ridge.
Our goal is to increase EPF funding overall, to $200 million, and to increase the land acquisition budget in particular. The Trail Conference is asking for the Land Acquisition line in the EPF to be restored at least to its level in 2008: $66 million.
New York Assemblyman Steven Englebright is seeking support for the 2015 EPF and is asking fellow representatives to urge that it be increased to $200 million in the state budget. Tell your representive to sign his letter by February 13.
The 2014 NYS Draft Open Space Conservation Plan is now available for review. Comments are due by Dec. 17. See Trail Conference talking points about the Open Space Plan.