The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) Division of Environmental Stewardship and Planning have announced the release of the Draft Scoping Document for the Draft Statewide Greenways Plan and Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (DGEIS) for public comment. [Read more…] about Comments Sought On Statewide Greenway Trails Plan
OPRHP
Comments Sought On State Historic Preservation Plan
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) Division for Historic Preservation have announced the release of the Draft Scoping Document for the Draft New York State Historic Preservation Plan (2021-2025) and Draft Generic Environmental Impact Statement (DGEIS) for public comment. [Read more…] about Comments Sought On State Historic Preservation Plan
Friends Groups Boost NY State Parks, Historic Sites
A 2018 survey of New Yorks State parks and historic sites’ Friends organizations details the support and programs these groups provide to the state parks system. Among the findings, is that Friends groups raised more than $17 million in private funds, and contributed nearly 132,000 hours of volunteer labor.
A Friends group is a group of individuals who work to support, steward and promote a park or historic site or multiple sites. They come in a variety of sizes and approaches from all-volunteer groups, to those with paid staff responsible for generating funds for operations and renovations. [Read more…] about Friends Groups Boost NY State Parks, Historic Sites
Activists Call For Revitalization of State Parks System
New Yorkers from across the state came together at the State Capitol on March 4th for the 13th annual Park Advocacy Day to urge policymakers to protect and preserve New York’s state parks. Nearly 80 representatives from more than 30 park Friends groups, environmental organizations, local parks, and educational organizations signed up to make the case for state park funding.
Park advocates urged state lawmakers to support the Governor’s $110 million capital investment in the state park system in this year’s state budget and continue to support the Park and Trail Partnership Program, a capacity-building grants program for Friends groups that support and strengthen the state’s parks, trails and historic sites. [Read more…] about Activists Call For Revitalization of State Parks System
Friends With Benefits: NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation
How many historic sites does the NYSOPRHP maintain? That is not a trick question. At the NY Statewide Preservation Conference, May 5-7, in Albany and Troy, the question was an unintended running joke among several sessions. Generally the number was between 35 and 40 with a variation due to how to classify a site given a site can be recreational and historic. But this is not a post about the combination of recreation and historic sites in one bureaucracy (it wasn’t always that way). Rather it is a discussion about what it means to be a state historic site. [Read more…] about Friends With Benefits: NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation
Underground Railroad: New York’s Freedom Trail Failures
While recently investigating the dismal record of the Amistad Commission, I came across the Underground Railroad portion of New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation (State Parks) – there I found reference to the New York State Freedom Trail, which began as a state project with similarly high hopes and followed the same trajectory to substandard results.
According to the State Parks webpage: “The New York State Freedom Trail Act of 1997 proposed the establishment of a Freedom Trail Commission to plan and implement a New York State Freedom Trail program to commemorate these acts of freedom and to foster public understanding of their significance in New York State history and heritage.”
[Read more…] about Underground Railroad: New York’s Freedom Trail Failures
NYS Offering 500k In Grants To State Facilities
The state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) has announced that $500,000 in grants are now available to help organizations to improve State parks, trails and historic sites.
The grants are available to Friends Groups of State parks and the program will be administered by State Parks and Parks & Trails New York.
[Read more…] about NYS Offering 500k In Grants To State Facilities
New York State Heritage Areas: Real or Not?
New York State has heritage areas – 19, scattered around the state.
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation (NYSOPRHP) defines these areas on its website: [Read more…] about New York State Heritage Areas: Real or Not?
RIP The Path Through History Taskforce
Once upon a time, as all good fairy tales begin, there was a New York State Path through History Taskforce. Some of you may even remember it. August 28, 2015, marked the three-year anniversary of the failed project and since the NYS Historian who was a member of that taskforce has resigned, it is beneficial to examine the fate of this taskforce for the lessons it teaches about what happened. Will we learn from the past or are we condemned to repeat it?
At the kickoff event for the Path project, attendees received two glossy, multicolored booklets. One had a list of the “iconic highway signage” which was to be produced; the other had the conference agenda, a description of the regions with a listing of the selected sites, and the taskforce bios. [Read more…] about RIP The Path Through History Taskforce
Grant Cottage Property Being Transferred To State Parks
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) has announced that Grant Cottage State Historic Site, formerly part of the now closed Mount McGregor State Correctional Facility, will be part of a 750-acre parcel being transferred to Moreau Lake State Park.
Grant Cottage State Historic Site is the site where President Ulysses S. Grant died in July 1885. [Read more…] about Grant Cottage Property Being Transferred To State Parks