Winnakee Launches Northern Dutchess Trail Project

Winnakee Land Trust has announced the Northern Dutchess Trail Project and receipt of a grant in the amount of $14,800 from the 2016 Greenway Conservancy Trail Grant Program.

The grant was one of 22 received in the Mid-Hudson Valley and Capital Region. The Greenway Conservancy Trail Grant Program, funded by NYS Environmental Protection Fund, supports the Greenway’s goal to establish the Hudson River Valley Greenway Trail, a contiguous trail linking cultural and historic sites, parks, open spaces, and community centers from New York City to the Adirondacks.

The Northern Dutchess Trail Project will lay the groundwork for increased connectivity in the Town of Rhinebeck between existing parks, schools, and village center as well as the establishment of bike/pedestrian infrastructure within Northern Dutchess County with Rhinebeck as a hub where several trails would converge. It will be matched with a $10,000 grant from the Thomas Thompson Trust and additional funds from the Land Trust Alliance Conservation Partnership Program. This project, currently underway, will enhance the experience for residents and visitors to the area by connecting them to a regional network as well as improve safety for school children walking or biking to school or to the local parks.

Winnakee owns the land at Drayton Grant Park at Burger Hill and maintains trails there through a large troupe of active volunteers. In addition to this, Winnakee has been building connections from the riverfront trail we have helped to establish in Hyde Park, now connecting as far northward as Norrie Point State Park with the potential to get to the Rhinebeck town line, and ultimately to attain a connection to the two and a half miles of trails at the Thompson-Mazzarella Park.

Winnakee Land Trust, incorporated in 1989, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of natural, agricultural, and scenic land and the connection of trails in northern Dutchess County and beyond.

Photo: Marist College Students Clearing Trails, courtesy Winnakee Land Trust.