Volunteen Spotlight

Bayard Cutting Arboretum Community Supported Agricultural Farm

How long have you been volunteering at this location and how did you get involved? 
I've been working as a volunteer at the Bayard Cuttting Arboretum CSA for about 2 years. I became involved at the farm when it was started. I began by helping the CSA Manager organize its membership, begin and write a monthly newsletter and started a CSA children's education program.

Describe a recent project, program or initiative that you organized:
Over the past two years I've developed and initiated a Children's Education Program that has two parts: 

• One program meets once a week during the growing season, mid May until the end of July. During these weekly classes, children learn the importance of growing their own organic vegetables; caring for the CSA free-range chickens and how to maintain and sustain the land on which these vegetables are grown and the chickens live.
   
• Bayard Cutting Arboretum School Field Trip Program began in Spring 2014. Local school children are given the opportunity to visit the Arboretum and participate in a three-part tour. The children are guided on these tours by trained docents and educators. The three-part tour includes a walk through the Arboretum Grounds, the Bayard Cutting family's historic manor house, Westbrook, and the CSA Farm. Field trips run in May, June, Sept and October.

What is your favorite thing to do at the park?
I love interacting with the children during the classes and field trips. I also like to work with other CSA members in the field. 

 
What would you suggest to others who might want to get more involved in helping out at their favorite park?
I would encourage anyone to become involved with the Arboretum in any capacity. It is wonderful to be part of a group of dedicated volunteers and NY State employees. Working to keep our parks beautiful and functioning for all to enjoy is a fantastic personal reward.

How long have you been with the agency? About 15 years. I started as a Park Naturalist, then did administration work for 5 years and the last 7 years I've been with the Forestry/Wildlife Department.

What does someone in your position do?
I'm involved with all forestry aspects from hazardous trees, invasive species monitoring, and trail maintenance. We deal with nuisance black bears, pheasant stocking, fish stocking and hunting issues within the region. Being a licensed bird bander, I've been running a MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) station here in Allegany State Park for the past 8 years and I also band Northern Saw-whet Owls during fall migration.

What's the coolest thing you've ever seen?
One day a fellow park naturalist brought an Allegheny Dusky into my office and asked if I had ever seen anything like this before. This salamander had two tails and after releasing the dusky we learned it was the first record of one ever being seen with two tails. That was cool!

What's the coolest thing you've ever done?

Living in Allegany State Park for 6 years was the coolest thing I've ever done. The park was my backyard and that really opened the door in learning more about the night life within the park. I no longer live in the park but still spend many after hours here watching birds and photographing the park.

Is there a destination in the park/region you'd recommend to someone? Wolf Run area of Allegany State Park is very diverse in wildlife and one of my favorite places to go. It's very remote from most people but still easy to explore the valley. I'm sure it's an area that's overlooked by most park visitors.

What inspired you to work in the park system?
Since childhood, I've always spent summers in Allegany State Park. Living nearby we would visit the beaver ponds most evenings with my mom. The park has always been part of my life and inspiration. Even at the age of 10 I knew I would be working here.

Great Fall Hikes

Nothing beats a hike on a sunny, autumn day. Immerse yourself among the spectacular colors that make New York's state parks so special in the fall. Below are some trail recommendations to soak in the scenery. Enjoy!

Gorge Trail, Letchworth State Park, 7 miles (moderate); Known as the Grand Canyon of the East, this park offers stunning views of the Genesee River gorge. The Gorge Trail begins just below Erie High Bridge at the southern end of the park and follows the gorge rim past the Upper and Middle Falls, Inspiration Point overlook, around the Great Bend and ending at the river flats near St. Helena. Hikers will be rewarded with breathtaking vistas and close-ups of the falls. 585.493.3600 

Rim Trail, Taughannock Falls State Park, 5 miles (easy to moderate); Located near Ithaca, the park's trails have spectacular views including the 215-foot Taughannock Falls, the highest vertical single-drop waterfall in the northeast. The Gorge Rim trail loops around the gorge and can be joined at every entrance. From the old railroad bridge, the rim trail offer excellent views of the upper portion of the park. 607.387.6739. 

Indian Ladder Trail, Thacher State Park, 3.5 miles (easy); Thacher is located just outside of Albany and offers great hiking and spectacular views from the Helderburg Escarpment. Among the popular hikes is the Indian Ladder Trail with interpretive signs along the trail, two waterfalls (Mine Lot and Outlet Creek), an underground stream, and caves. 518.872.1237. 

Beacon Hill Carriage Road, Minnewaska State Park Preserve; 

1.4 miles (easy); A Hudson Valley favorite, the park sits atop the Shawangunk Ridge with high cliffs that overlook the valley to the east. The Beacon Hill Carriage Road offers a shady, meandering route for 0.7 mile until you reach the panoramic view at Beacon Hill. The jaw-dropping vistas encompass the Catskills to the left, rock formation immediately in front, and the Taconic Hills of Conn. and Mass. in the distance straight ahead -- all within an hour and a half drive from NYC. Walk back the same route for an easy stroll or continue on the Beacon Hill Footpath (0.9 miles) for more cliff-edge views. This route does include some hills and rocky footing as it travels through a unique forest with rocky outcrops and distinctive pitch pine trees. Concluding at the Beacon Hill Picnic Area, which offers even more views to the south, hikers can make a loop route by continuing along the Lake Minnewaska Carriage Road (.50 miles back to parking areas). 845.255.0752  

 

Other resources to check the fall colors and places to go include the weekly foliage report from I Love NY and some additional hike suggestions including trails in the Adirondacks and Catskills, state forests and wildlife management areas.� 

Free Mobile Trail Maps Available

 

New York State Parks has partnered with Avenza Systems Inc. to give State Park visitors free mobile access to more than 50 State Park trail maps featuring more than 1,500 miles of trails. The digital PDF maps are available to download free. 
 

Park visitors with GPS-enabled devices are now able to locate themselves on New York State Parks maps as they explore the trails. The maps provide a great option for visitors planning a hike in remote parks, where wireless service is not always available. Visitors can download and save maps through the Avenza PDF Maps in-app map store on their mobile device.  At the park, visitors can open the map and take advantage of various interactive features such as showing location; dropping waypoints/pinpoints on points-of-interest; attaching images and notes; and tracking routes, distance and elevation - all while offline.

Park visitors interested in the maps will need to download Avenza's PDF Maps app to their Apple iOS and Android mobile devices and search for the New York State Park map of their choice.
Read more.

 

 

Meet the Locals 
 

Flying squirrels are elusive little creatures-- rarely seen, even though they might be living right in your backyard! Active only at night, they spend most of their time up high in the trees and are common residents in many state parks. Not actually fliers, they are able to glide long distances by stretching out a flap of skin (it's called a patagium) that connects their front feet to their hind feet. Like the familiar grey squirrels, flying squirrels eat nuts, fruit, insects, and will even dine at your bird feeder. They live in small family groups in the hollows of dead trees. In forest ecology, dead or dying trees are called snags, and they have a special role in forest life. Snags provide food for decomposers like termites and mushrooms, and habitat for animals like woodpeckers, owls, bats, and flying squirrels. While it may seem dead trees look abandoned, think again! 

 

And thanks for making us your destination of choice. More than 36 million people made a trip to visit a state park, historic site or campground this summer. In fact, park visitation was up 2 percent over last year. Read More