Meeting Summary - October 15, 2001

Mohawk-Hudson Regional Canalway Trail Group (RCTG)

A.                 John DiMura from the Canal Corporation facilitated the meeting. Introductions were made. A list of attendees is attached.

B.                 Purpose of the meeting was to continue work on organizing a Regional Canalway Trail Group in the Mohawk-Hudson Bikeway area and develop an activity plan for the group.

C.                An overview of the statewide Canalway Trail Program was provided. The goal of the program is to develop a continuous trail along the NYS Canal System – over 500 miles long. It will be the longest trail in the United States. Approximately 230 miles of trail are in use, primarily in three longer segments. One of the longer existing segments is the 35-mile Mohawk-Hudson Bikeway in the Capital District. The Canalway Trail Program will focus on connecting existing segments and resurfacing the trail where needed.

D.                The Canalway Trails Association of New York was discussed and the advantages of participating in a Regional or Local Canalway Trail Group were explained. An overview of the Canalway Trails Association is attached.  

E.                 A discussion was held on possible goals/ projects for the Regional Canalway Trail Group to work on:

1.                 Complete the gaps in the Mohawk-Hudson Trail from Albany to Colonie and from Schenectady to the Montgomery County line.

a.      City of Schenectady Gap being considered in city’s bike/ped Master Plan sponsored by CDTC plan

b.      Need a detailed map of Watervliet, Green Island, Cohoes to help identify potential trail routes. John DiMura will look into obtaining this.

c.      Western Schenectady County segment to be completed by Canal Corp. and Schenectady County.

d.      Develop municipal and agency partnerships to complete the gap segments.

2.      Establish an inter-municipal Trail Management Organization for the Region that would help reduce maintenance and management costs and bring greater consistency to the trail through the Mohawk-Hudson Corridor.

a.      Kevin McLoughlin agreed to draft a white paper outline identifying the purpose and benefits of such a group.

b.      Greater consistency at trailheads could be one objective of such a group.

3.       Develop Adopt-a-Trail groups in the corridor.

a.      The groups agreed that there is a need for citizen

involvement in the trail in the areas of maintenance and advocacy for the trail.

q     Activities would brush clearing, trimming, inventorying signage, conducting user surveys, circulating petitions, promoting the trail through programming events.

q       A slide show or video could be developed to recruit volunteers and clubs and organizations to get involved.

4.      Many members of the group expressed interest in the extant historic canal features in the Mohawk- Hudson segment and linking these to the existing and proposed trail.

q       The first step would be to compile an inventory of the historic canal features from existing sources and document them on a map. Henrietta will look into possible sources of information. 

F.         Next meeting at Waterford Visitors Center, Monday, November 19 at 3 p.m.

[ Ambassadors ] [ Ambassadors volunteers ] [ Meetings ] [ Membership ] [ News ] [ CTANY ] [ RCTG ] [ Email Subscriptions ] [ Related Links ] [ Site Map ] [ Contacts ]

Send mail to mhbway@yahoo.com with questions or comments about the Friends of the Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike trail.

Last modified: May 07, 2003