Park & Trail Hero Awards

Congratulations to our 2015 Park & Trail Heroes!


  • Volunteer Service Award - Caroline Wallach and Emma Hanratty for their innovative and sustained efforts to recruit volunteers to restore and maintain the Jay Heritage Center in Westchester County. Kay Cynamon for her dedication to Taconic State Park and Hudson Valley trail groups.
  • Public Leadership Award - Mark Poloncarz, Erie County Executive, for his commitment to restoring and enhancing the 10,000-acre Erie County Park System.
  • Get Outdoors Award - Theresa Bowick for her creative efforts to promote physical activity and trail use along Rochester’s El Camino Trail through the development of the Conkey Cruisers program. Laura Clark for organizing a series of snowshoe and trail races to ensure that people in the Capital Region enjoy their local parks and trails throughout the year
  • Outside the Box Award - Rick Manning for his countless visionary and creative contributions to Ithaca’s parks and trails.

Read the awards press release.

About the Park & Trail Hero Awards

Behind every successful park or trail project there are dedicated individuals and organizations that rarely receive the recognition they deserve. Congratulations to the public officials and volunteers who are the recipients of PTNY's 2015 Park & Trail Hero Awards. The awards recognize the leadership, creativity, and donation of time, talent, and materials behind many of New York's most treasured assets.

The Park & Trail Hero Awards is a biennial award program that recognizes the important efforts of dedicated volunteers, government employees, planners, preservationists, and other community members to enhance New York State's extensive park, trail, and greenway network.

There are four award categories:

  • Public Leadership Award. This award recognizes agencies or local, county, state, or federal government entities or their employees that have made significant and sustained contributions in support of planning, design, construction, management, promotion, or public involvement for a park and a trail project or program.
  • Volunteer Service Award. This award recognizes an individual or not for profit organization that has demonstrated strong leadership and made exemplary and significant contributions to planning, construction, maintenance, promotion, fundraising, or utilization of partnerships for a park and trail project. Special consideration is given to longstanding commitments.
  • Get Outdoors Award. This award recognizes an individual, not for profit organization, governmental entity, business, or corporation that has demonstrated an exemplary commitment to promoting increased physical activity among community members through park or trail use. Initiatives that involve partnerships with the health care community are given special consideration.
  • Outside the Box Award. This award is an open-ended category that recognizes creativity in park or trail stewardship promotion, fundraising, or organization.