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WVLT at the 2025 Parks and Trails New York Empire State Greenway Trails Conference
October 30, 2025
In mid-October, trail advocates from across New York and beyond gathered in Kingston, NY for the first Empire State Greenways Conference held by Parks & Trails New York in 15 years. Ulster County’s trail community played a key role in bringing this exciting event to our region. The conference welcomed an inspiring mix of participants — including nonprofits like the Wallkill Valley Land Trust (WVLT), government leaders, trail designers, contractors, and consultants — all united by a shared commitment to improving and expanding New York’s trails.
Staff, board members, and volunteers from WVLT were involved in making this conference an amazing event, connected with other trail communities, and attended talks that will help us improve how we approach the challenges we face with our own trail systems.
On the first day of the conference, WVLT’s Coordinator of Land Stewardship, Cara Gentry, led a field trip of 43 conference attendees on a bike ride along our Wallkill Valley Rail Trail (WVRT) from Rockwell Lane to the Rosendale Trestle and back. Executive Director, Christie DeBoer started the field trip off with a quick overview on the history of acquiring the Rail Trail and implementation of grants to renovate the trail to its current condition. With several stops along the way, Cara discussed how the WVRT is connected to the community through citizen science projects, plans for a foraging forest, securing a trail easement through a development, and details that make our rail trail experience unique. At the trestle we were greeted by Ulster County Executive, Jen Metzger who shared personal stories about what our WVRT and trestle means to her and how its improvements have shaped her own family’s experiences.
With 43 field trip attendees on bikes, we recruited several volunteers to assist including Board members Brad Barclay who provided our Support and Gear Wagon, and Arif Khan who assisted with road crossings and leading folks to the trailhead. Our public lands committee members David Dukler, Garth Godfrey, and Andy Bicking assisted as sweep and road crossings and volunteer Sarah Dukler was in charge of riding ahead to be the first at the road crossings. PTNY staff was impressed with our support and the Rail Trail’s connection to our community.
Christie, Cara, and Arif attended the full conference and sessions began on the second day of the conference. A plenary discussion kicked off the day, bringing together visionaries and heavy hitters involved in developing and implementing the spine of rail trails and greenways in Ulster County including our very own Christie DeBoer.
Christie gave a broad overview of the creation of the WVRT, starting with WVLT acquiring the New Paltz and Gardiner sections in 1991. She then explained the growth of this linear park, which is now 22 miles long, has 5 owners (including WVLT), is permanently protected by conservation easements, and is a popular part of the 750-mile Empire State Trail (EST) system. Christie also noted that the trestle, which WVLT still owns, was showcased on many Park and Trails NY materials, and joked that the compensation check must be in the mail. She ended her comments explaining that WVLT prioritized taking on management of this complex Rail Trail in order to expand education and community engagement, which then supports WVLT’s private land protection work.
Highlights of the conference sessions attended by WVLT representatives included fostering a trail ethic where we were introduced to this Empire State Trail Video, lessons learned in trail design with plenty of ideas on how to improve existing designs, and ways of communicating and utilizing trail count data to better improve connection to the community. 
Attendees heard from local trail legends such as Andy Beers from Empire State Trails discussing maintenance costs with a breakdown of routine annual maintenance needs to lifespan and costs of replacing different surfaces over time. Local cycling advocates Rose Quinn and Andy Bicking discussed losses in the Hudson Valley due to traffic violence including their personal tragedy with Dan Langenkamp from Maryland whose own loss focused him to push for safe bike lanes in Maryland and lead to new legislation in his state of Maryland. We also heard from our friends from Quebec who discussed their amazing trail network across the Province where they have developed over 3000 miles of trail networks and an annual cycling festival in Montreal that garners support for the trail system.
The Thursday keynote speaker, Janette Sadik-Kahn spoke about transforming urban spaces into community hubs beginning with the background on turning Times Square from a traffic nightmare into the beautiful plaza it is today. The vision started with a trial period and a whole lot of beach chairs. Today Times Square is a beautiful community plaza.
Thursday evening was capped with “Dinner and a Movie” where conference registrants watched the new PBS documentary From Rails to Trails, released the same week. Peter Harnik and Ryan Chao from the Rails to Trail Conservancy answered questions from the audience following the documentary. There was a lot of discussion on how transforming these railroad corridors into active, multiuse trails are a significant achievement. While popular today, it was a long “trail” to get there!
Friday continued with sessions in the morning and more field trips in the afternoon. Cara attended the walk in New Paltz with Former town supervisor Neil Betez, current town Supervisor Amanda Gotto, and Mayor Tim Rogers, where we looked at the intersection of the WVRT, Empire State Trail and River to Ridge trail as well as discuss connections to the trails through new developments that provide both services and housing for the community.
When both Kingston Mayor Steve Nobel and Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger spoke at the conference center welcoming the over 170 registrants to this region on Thursday and Friday, it highlighted just how invested our community leaders are in the trail system, including the efforts to expand connections and improvements, as well as advocate for safe bike-ped infrastructure around the state and beyond.
Overall it was an amazing conference to be a part of. There was so much information, many familiar faces (including some of our volunteers and board members), and many new faces. With renewed inspiration WVLT staff continue not only the stewardship of the WVRT but other properties such as Joppenbergh Mountain and the Nyquist-Harcourt Wildlife Sanctuary.
The Wallkill Valley Land Trust’s work on the Wallkill Valley Rail Trail and other beloved local trails depends on community support. Your donation helps us maintain and improve these spaces, expand access, and continue connecting people to nature through stewardship, education, and collaboration. Together, we can ensure our trails remain safe, beautiful, and welcoming for everyone. Donate today to support WVLT’s work.