The Catskill 3500 Club hosted its fifth trailhead steward season over the Memorial Day weekend, pushing forward with efforts to promulgate safe hiking and environmental stewardship as federal budget cuts stir concern.
The club, formed in 1961 to note summiteers of the 33 accessible Catskills peaks above 3,500 feet, is supported this year for the first time by an outside grant – $4,798 from the Environmental Protection Fund’s Park and Trail Partnership Grants program. Until now, it was funded entirely by membership dues and donations.
“Even though we have great things to celebrate, we see some funds being restricted to our parks,” said Lourdes Sonera, a club board member and key organizer for the program. “We the people will stand up tall and come back and volunteer to make sure that the park will be here for the next generation.”
The grant, administered by Park and Trails New York under the jurisdiction of the Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation and the Department of Environmental Conservation, comes as the club grapples with the impact of almost $30 million in cuts to AmeriCorps under the Trump administration. The reductions that have cast doubt over the future of related stewardship programs in the region
“It’s hard for me to think of another grant that has been provided through this program that has had such an outsized impact,” said Paul Steely White, executive director at Park & Trails. “We’re working on another, newer generation of economic impact studies to really show how all that visitation is not just resulting in spending for local economies, but also attracting talent and investment to our state, to our region.
From Memorial Day to Indigenous Peoples Day, club volunteers are stationed each weekend at two of the trailheads, Woodland Valley at 1319 Woodland Valley Road and Slide Mountain at 2027 Oliverea Road in Phoenicia. They greet hikers, promote “leave no trace” principles, share trail conditions and offer practical guidance ranging from safety tips to nearby amenities.
The program began in 2021 as part of the DEC’s Adopt-a-Trailhead initiative, which invites groups to maintain state trails and help educate visitors.
“It’s fostering a sense of appreciation for how unique these natural resources are and how fragile they are, and how important it is to recreate responsibly,” said Pine Roehrs, senior natural resource planner at the DEC. “They conduct stewardship activities on state lands, so they get to areas that we are not able to frequently maintain.”
The presence of stewards has helped reduce search and rescue incidents by preparing hikers before they enter the backcountry, Roehrs said. The pandemic prompted a surge in visitors to the Slide Mountain Wilderness Area.
Volunteers come from across the region, many traveling more than two hours each way, and more than 60 people participated last year. For some, the experience is deeply personal.
“They do look at it as their way of giving back to the mountains that they climbed, the help they’ve gotten from other hikers along the way, encouragement,” said Lori Herpen, the club’s vice president. “That’s what brings people that bond, that spirit, to volunteer and come out here and do the same.”
Catskill 3500 became a nonprofit in 2022 and draws on its long history to adapt to new challenges. Even as visitors decline from their pandemic peak, the club hopes to expand its volunteer base and to eventually expand the steward program to more trailheads.
“You can pay a shrink $100 and it’s probably going to be either just as good, or even better, to be out here,” said Suzanne Knabe, a three-decade club member who volunteers with the trailhead program. “I’ve done the shrink and I’ve done the outdoors, and I would say that the outdoors is better.”
Mia Quick is an intern and contributing reporter. You can reach her at reporting@theoverlooknews.com.