FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Catskill Center’s Catskill Stewards Greet More Than 70,000 Catskill Park Visitors in the 2020 Season

November 23, 2020 -- Arkville, NY: The number of visitors to the Catskill Park and our open spaces are growing, just ask the Stewards of the Catskill Center’s Catskill Stewards Program, who saw a 27% increase in the number of visitors they greeted in the Catskill Park during the 2020 season. Located at three high-use areas of the Catskill Park: Kaaterskill Falls; Peekamoose Blue Hole; and Platte Clove, the four full-time and one part-time Stewards job is to greet visitors, provide answers to public questions, and help visitors understand how to recreate responsibly in the Catskill Park. The Catskill Stewards Program operates in partnership with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) at the Peekamoose Blue Hole and Kaaterskill Falls and in Platte Clove, the program is operated on the Catskill Center’s Platte Clove Preserve.

While each location where the Stewards work has its own specific needs, there is a common theme of natural resource protection, public awareness, and education at all three. Without the Stewards, wild areas are consistently in danger of being trampled or harmfully impacted by an increasing number of visitors. Stewards help interpret the Catskill Park, provide information on alternative areas to visit, and offer directions towards communities when the common question of “where can I get lunch” comes up. In addition, when present, the Stewards are explaining and demonstrating why responsible recreation is important – from not littering while visiting, to staying on the trail. The Catskill Stewards have become a vital link to the visitation experience at these locations. On days when they are not present, the stewards have come back and seen increased litter, rock dams and rock stacks in waterways, and user-created trails begin to spiderweb through pristine forest floors.

“We need our visitors in the Catskills,” said Andy Mossey, the Catskill Center’s Advocacy & Stewardship Coordinator, “and we need each visitor to recreate responsibly and visit thoughtfully. The Catskill Stewards Program gives all people a baseline of information and skills to recreate with. Catskill Stewards encourage people to think about their footsteps, cumulative impacts, and individual choices while spending time in the woods. The Stewards also help visitors find alternatives to busy sites and provide directions to local communities to help drive our local economy.”

2020 presented new challenges for the Catskill Stewards Program to overcome. With a bumpy start due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all training was completed online over email and in zoom meetings. Additionally, new pandemic minded protocols added to the complexity of this public facing program. Personal protective equipment (PPE) was implicit, but our Stewards expanded their caution. Just a few of the protocols included: sanitizing, keeping equipment spotless and disinfected, and staying socially distant. The Stewards’ ultimate goal is to connect with visitors in an effort to help people feel more comfortable, while they share priceless information about responsible recreation and natural resource protection. 2020 has been a unique moment in time when a Catskill Steward must smile with their eyes and navigate their work with masks on. Fortunately, with thoughtful precautions the stewards were able to keep a responsible distance while still effectively communicating and meeting their goals.

“Established just a few years ago to assist the NYSDEC at the Peekamoose Blue Hole, the exponential growth of our outreach over the years has been phenomenal,” said Jeff Senterman, the Executive Director of the Catskill Center. “To have the opportunity to greet and educate more than 70,000 individuals this year is a priceless opportunity to secure the future of the Catskill Park by providing a helping hand to the public to understand the Park, to understand our communities in the Park, and to recreate responsibly when visiting. The outreach and education that our Catskill Stewards provide are a critical link between visitors, the protection of natural resources, and the success of local economies reliant on visitors.”

Despite the challenges of increasing use and the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Catskill Stewards Program’s season has been filled with momentous successes. This year helped all of us to remember that the work of the Catskill Center’s Stewards is critical for the health, safety, and experience of our visitors and the continued protection of the Catskill Forest Preserve. This season, the Catskills hosted the highest number of visitors to its trails and waters than ever before. For our stewards this meant balancing a welcoming educational environment while simultaneously cleaning up trash and litter, rehabilitating illegal campsites, promoting stream health, and many other responsibilities in the field. All at a higher frequency and density than ever before in the program’s history.

2020 by the numbers:
• Visitor engagement reach of over 72,859 people
• Over 351 bags of litter collected (~ 7,020 lbs.)
• Fire rings deconstructed - 25 - sites rehabilitated
• Rock dams deconstructed - 22
• Rock stacks removed - 176
• Total days on site - 158
• Dogs greeted – 1,577
• Visitor parking citations avoided - 361 (minimum)

Learn more about the Catskill Center’s Catskill Stewards Program at catskillcenter.org/catskillstewardsprogram where you can also download annual reports with more data and information on the program.

The Catskill Stewards Program is made possible by the generous support of the NYSDEC, the Rondout Neversink Stream Program, REI Co-Op, Bruderhof, Hunter Foundation, Catskill Mountain Club and the generous supporters of the Catskill Center.

Join the Catskill Center on Thursday, December 3rd at 5:00pm for a one hour long presentation via Zoom about the findings, and the season in summary of the Catskill Stewards Program. This presentation will speak to the high use found across the Catskills during the 2020 summer season. Registration is required for this free event. The registration link can be found at catskillcenter.org/events.

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