To protect and preserve the unique and extraordinary features in the Minnewaska State Park Preserve and

August 8, 2008 Mr. Mark Hohengasser NY State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation (Via email: mark.hohengasser@oprhp.state.ny.us) Subject: Minnewaska State Park Preserve Master Plan ”The Trail Conference was founded in 1920 with two principal purposes: to establish and maintain a system of hiking trails, and to protect places of natural beauty … Our interest in Minnewaska derives from both of these purposes. Hiking in this section of the Shawangunks has been a major activity for over a century.” Albert “Cap” Field Dear Mr. Hohengasser, The above comments were made by the then Trail Conference Executive Director at a 1980 public hearing on the proposed 590-acre Marriott Corporation development that would have violently shattered the natural beauty of the northern Shawangunks. When DEC approved the EIS submitted by Marriott, the Trail Conference joined the Friends of the Shawangunks and the Appalachian Mountain Club in a lawsuit against the DEC and Marriott. After the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Marriott in 1985, the corporation abandoned their plans for the development. The Trail Conference then joined other conservation groups to urge that this unique area be permanently protected, and the lands were eventually acquired by the State and absorbed into Minnewaska State Park. Today, the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference is a federation of 100 organizational members and 10,000 individual members, whose ...