Statewide Trails and Greenways Conference planned in Rochester

Statewide Trails and Greenways
Conference planned in Rochester

Parks & Trails New York will hold its third trails and greenways conference, September 28 and 29, at the R. Thomas Flynn Campus Center on the campus of Monroe Community College in Rochester. The conference, entitled Healthy Trails, Healthy Communities, recognizes the contribution that trails make to individual health, quality of life and the environmental and economic health of New York's communities.

Through workshops covering a variety of trail-related topics and field trips to four Rochester-area trail projects, the conference will provide greenway and trail advocates with the tools to successfully promote, build and maintain trails that promote active living, tourism and economic development. The program will include time for networking so participants can share their experience and learn from recognized leaders in the field.

Friday, September 28, NYS Canal Corporation Director Carmella Mantello will open the conference with an address on the Canalway Trail and presentation of the Canalway Trail Tender Award. Afternoon field trips will offer a variety of opportunities for participants to get out in the field and learn first-hand what others are doing to design trails, raise funds, overcome challenges and motivate volunteers. Field trips will showcase many of the well-known trails in the Rochester area including the Genesee Riverway Trail, Genesee Valley Greenway, Erie Canalway Trail and the Auburn and Lehigh Valley Trails.

Friday evening features a reception and dinner at the college's Campus Center that will feature an address by Carol Ash, commissioner of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and presentation of Parks & Trails New York's 2007 Greenway and Community Trails Awards.

Saturday, September 29, the day-long program will offer a dynamic mix of talks, workshops and panel discussions featuring timely issues, case studies, the latest research and implementation tools and strategies. Well known New England trails advocate Craig Della Penna will present the keynote address. Della Penna has authored four books on rail-trails and served as the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy's New England Field Representative before founding the trails consulting firm, Northeast Greenway Solutions. He is also a professional realtor specializing in residential properties near to greenways and rail-trails and, with his wife Kathleen, operates a bed and breakfast adjacent to a trail in Northampton, Massachusetts. As general manager of the Central Highlands Conservancy, LLC., Della Penna also buys threatened Massachusetts rail corridors so they can eventually be purchased by a local land trust.

To register for the Healthy Trails, Healthy Communities conference visit www.ptny.org or contact Parks and Trails New York at 518-434-1583 or ptny@ptny.org.