STOCKPORT—Residents here are working to help bring three new recreational trails to the town.
The Stockport Trails Committee, formed in July to facilitate the creation of recreational trails in the town, is collaborating with similar committees in the Towns of Kinderhook and Stuyvesant and the Columbia Land Conservancy to examine the feasibility of an inter-municipal trail from the Town of Kinderhook along the Kinderhook Creek to Stuyvesant Falls and south to Chittenden Falls in Stockport.
“Through the cooperative efforts of trails committees in Kinderhook, Stuyvesant and Stockport we together recently received a Greenway Conservancy grant for a feasibility study of the inter-municipal trail” said Stockport Trails Committee chairman Ronald Rich in a recent email. “We are very excited about the possibility of a multi-use recreational trail connecting the three towns.”
The trail would build on the longstanding work of the Town of Kinderhook Trails Committee, which has formulated plans and obtained funding for a trail from Niverville to Valatie.
The Stockport Trails Committee is also working with Scenic Hudson to develop the Stockport-Greenport Trail, which would link Scenic Hudson’s new Harrier Hill Park to the Greenport Conservation Area, managed by the Columbia Land Conservancy. Scenic Hudson is providing the project funding, including money it received from a federal program administered by the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
Stockport Trails’ third project will provide input to the town Planning Board on trail possibilities through the open space areas of the new Columbia Springs Planned Development District north of Stottville.
Peter Paden, executive director of the Columbia Land Conservancy, was quoted by Mr. Rich in his email as saying that The Stockport Trail Committee shows how a group of volunteers can take the initiative to expand opportunities to get out into the natural world.” Mr. Paden described Stockport as a key link in a potential trail corridor from the City of Hudson, north to Kinderhook and the county line.
The Committee is seeking additional volunteer members. Individuals interested in joining Stockport Trails are asked to contact Mr. Rich at (518) 461-3529 or by email at StockportTrails@gmail.com.