ALBANY - The Cattaraugus Local Development Corporation received the Green-way and Community Trail Innovation Award from New York Park and Conservation Association (NYPCA), a statewide citizens conservation organization, for its work to create the Iroquois Recreation Trail, a 12-mile multiuse trail from Salamanca city line to the Village of Cattaraugus.
The Award was presented to Richard LeFeber, executive director of the Cattaraugus Local Development Corporation, at an award dinner at the first statewide greenway and community trail conference, Building Community Trails in New York, held Oct. 27 and 28 at the Hotel Syracuse in Syracuse.
The Greenway and Community Trails Awards Program recognizes the noteworthy people and organization working in New York state to created greenways, rail-trails, canal trails, bikeways and river walks. The innovation Award recognizes innovation in greenway and community trail design, management, fund raising or organization.
"Innovation means thinking outside the box," says Robin Dropkin, conservation director of New York Parks and Conservation Association. "And that's certainly what the Cattaraugus Local Development Corporation did when it took on a project to turn a long-abandoned rail corridor own by the local Industrial Development Association into a community asset.
A committee formed under the Local Development Corporation and named itself S.T.A.R.T. - for Southern Tier Association of Rails-to-Trails. During 1998, the first years of the project, S.T.A.R.T. representatives attended 150 meetings with municipalities, government agencies, civic organizations, concerned citizens and user groups. Also during this first year, applications were submitted for various federal and state funds totaling $1.5 million dollars. The Local Development Corporation used an innovative means to procure the required local match for these grants; it had an appraisal made of the rail bed, convinced the local IDA to sell the rail bed to the organization for $1 and use the difference as the match.
The innovation does not stop there. The Local Development Corporation negotiated a 30-year agreement with Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation that allows the utility to use the right-of-way in return for a fee that will go toward managing and maintaining the trail. The agreement also includes a wildlife and forestry management program that makes the utility a strategic partner in stewardship of the corridor.
The target for completion of the Iroquois Recreation Trail is December 2001, with the ribbon cutting scheduled for midnight New Year's Eve.
The two-day greenway and trail conference at which the award were presented attracted more than 200 greenway and trail advocates and users, recreation professionals, planners, elected officials, health advocates, volunteer and business people interested in the quality of life in New York. The conference was hosted by New York parks and Conservation Association in partnership with National park Service Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistance Program; NYS Department of Health; NYS Department of Environmental Conservation; NYS Department of State; NYS Department of Transportation; NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; Greenway Conservancy for the Hudson River Valley and the Business Council of New York State.
New York Parks and Conservation Association is the premier organization in New York state working as an advocate and catalyst for the creation of new kinds of parks such as greenways, rail and canal trails and heritage corridors. NYPCA works at both the local and state levels to promote community-based trails and a statewide network of multi-use trails. NYPCA provides technical assistance, education and advocacy to assist communities in planning and developing these multi-use trails. NYPCA recently published a poster, Building Community Trails Across New York, which presents a vision for a network of greenways and multi-use trails throughout the state. As a partner in the Canal way Trail partnership, NYPCA is working with communities to create a continuous 524-mile trail along the New York state's historic canal system.
For more information on the Cattaraugus Local Development Corporation or the Iroquois Recreation Trail, contact the Cattaraugus Local Development Corporation at (716) 938-9151.
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