The Shawangunk Ridge is the geographic backbone of our area and has been the focus of conservation efforts for the past half a century.

The Gunks, as the ridge is known to locals, bisects the Rondout and Wallkill Valleys and gives this area much of its character as a unique geographical formation made up of the Shawangunk quartz conglomerate, called this because it's found only in this ridge... which also includes five sky lakes (five and a half, if you include Hidden Pond), numerous waterfalls and ice caves, pitch pine barrens, timber rattlers, and forty-two other rare species.

As of April 2015, over 47,000 acres of the Gunks has been preserved between the Mohonk Preserve and Minnewaska State Park Preserve since efforts began a half century ago.

Minnewaska, at over 23,000 acres, is in fact now the largest park preserve within New York State under the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, created from a series of acquisitions since 1971 which would not have been possible without the help of the Open Space Institute, according to park superintendent Eric Humphrey.

"The most recent acquisitions are vital to the protection of natural resources within the park preserve and generate additional buffers of open space," he said this past week. "The Lawn Parcel has been a high priority for years which fills in a large previously unprotected parcel from Port Ben Road to Napanoch Point."

This new section of the park contains a mountainous stream known as the Little Stony Kill and its magnificent 100-foot high waterfalls, known locally as Nonkanawha Falls. The parcel also has extensive views of the Catskill Mountains and contains an extensive wilderness ravine known as the Mine Hole Hollow, several streams, and large expanses of bedrock and pitch pines.

The Sam's Point Area of Minnewaska State Park Preserve, almost 5,000 acres, reopened under the park's management effective April 1, and was formerly managed by The Nature Conservancy. Located on the highest section of the Shawangunk Mountains, it is now the most southerly section of Minnewaska State Park Preserve.

While Minnewaska manages the southern Ulster section of the ridge, the Mohonk Preserve has protected the northern section all the way to the border of Rosendale — a full eight miles of the ridge that includes the Mohonk Mountain House's 1,325 acres.

"The northern Shawangunks are one of the most important sites for biodiversity conservation in the northeastern United States," said Mohonk Preserve senior ecologist John Thompson. "The 90,000-acre landscape supports a globally significant core forest block consisting of more than thirty-five natural communities, three of which are considered globally rare, as well as fifty-seven imperiled plant and animal species."

The days of designating isolated parcels for preservation have given way to a new vision of connected conservation.

"Going forward, the Preserve is embarking on a more integrated approach to protecting resources, one that realizes the ecological, social and economic roles conserved lands play in our communities," said Peter Karis, Mohonk preserve director of land protection & stewardship. "By addressing conservation challenges at a whole-landscape level, the Preserve is able to identify connections between recreation, agriculture and the environment, and harness cooperative efforts in a more powerful way through conservation research, land protection and stewardship, environmental education, and partnerships with neighbors and other preservation organizations."

The two organizations are looking at the ridge as a whole and want to connect local rail trails with surrounding communities. Currently, approximately 47,000 of the 90,000 acre ridge are protected.

"The dream is to have 60,000-65,000 acres in an unbroken swath of protection from Rosendale to the Jersey border," noted Bob Anderberg, vice president and general counsel of Open Spaces Institute, whose even larger goal is to protect the entirety of the fifty mile conservation corridor down to Port Jervis, where the ridge continues into New Jersey and Pennsylvania as the Kittatinny Ridge and the Blue Mountains.

OSI recently facilitated the Mohonk Preserve purchase of the former Watchtower lands, and is nurturing plans to renovate the 8.5 mile Smiley Carriage Road which connects the Sam's Point section of the park with the Village of Ellenville... making it then possible to walk to New Paltz.

Anderberg pointed to a 2010 economic study which determined that tourism and park preserve operations generate a positive economic impact of $12.3 million on the local area and supported 358 local jobs.

"For over half a century, Mohonk Preserve has been committed to saving the land for life — and that includes flora, fauna and people," said Mohonk Preserve director of marketing and communications Gretchen Reed. "Each year, over 165,000 visitors come to climb, hike, bike, run, ride horses, cross-country ski and snowshoe at the Preserve. Our environmental education programs serve over forty area schools, helping to create the next generation of conservationists, and our citizen science programs help people of all ages and abilities get into nature."

Many volunteer organizations also help to make recreation and enjoyment of the preserved land in the Gunks safe and possible. GUMBA, the Gunks Mountain Bike Association, patrols both Minnewaska and the Preserve on mountain bikes; the Shawangunk Nordic Ski Association (SNKA) advocates for more x-county ski trails and helps both expert and beginning skiers; the Minnewaska Distance Swimmers Association lobbied for and got permission for qualified swimmers to use a designated area at the south end of Lake Minnewaska; the Shawangunk Runners Club holds races on both the Preserve and at Minnewaska; the NY-NJ Trail Conference helps building and maintain trails; and the Gunks Climbers Coalition(GCC) is an advocacy group dedicated to creating and maintaining sustainable opportunities for responsible climbing along the Shawangunk Ridge.

During the week of April 23 to 30 the Mohonk Preserve is giving away free passes for the month of May to Ulster County residents as part of the Healthy Ulster program.

"At the Preserve, every day really is Earth Day," Reed noted. "Everything we do, from environmental education and conservation science, to land protection and stewardship, is geared toward fostering a greater understanding and love of this amazing place we are lucky enough to call home."