New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Planning Unit Statewide Trails Plan Records

The Statewide Trails Plan provides the overall vision, goals, and objectives for the creation of a statewide trails system. The plan sets out to: provide statewide policy direction for trail planning, development, and management; develop a framework for the statewide trails system; identify trail related issues and provide strategies to address them; provide standards and guidelines and resources for development of sustainable trails statewide; recommend the creation of a Statewide Trails Clearinghouse; and define roles and responsibilities for implementation.

The Statewide Trails Plan is a requirement of Article 3.09, Section 7a of the Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Law and is updated periodically. The plan also is a requirement for continued funding under the Federal Recreational Trails Program. The plan is developed and updated using extensive public input, as well as through participation with the New York State Trails Council. There have only been two plans developed to date: the first in 1994 and the most recent in 2010.

The records in this series include copies of the Statewide Trails Plan report, as well as various background materials used in its preparation, including environmental impact statements, surveys, reports, and other documents. The surveys and reports provide both an inventory of trail services offered by the agency for public use as well as an assessment of the public's preferences for services and level of participation in trail-related activities throughout the state. These are statistical analyses that are ultimately used in the Trails Plan and thus are broadly duplicated in that report.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of the material.