BIG Things on the Horizon: PTNY's Vision for 2024 and Beyond
… have you heard? There’s some really exciting news around the corner!
If you’ve been checking in with Parks & Trails New York you might have heard some words like “game-changing,” “legacy,” “equity,” and “next-century data.” To be fair, a lot of those terms can be empty buzzwords, but empty just isn’t our style.
Just to make sure you know what we mean, we wanted to give you—a critical member of our PTNY community—a little more context behind the “BIG things on the horizon.”
Read below for a little preview of what we're working toward in 2024... and beyond.
Parks Centennial and Capital Push
It’s no secret we’ve got a great, committed group of advocates who’ve had some massive impacts for our public lands. From keeping close to 100 State Parks open during the 2010 budget crisis to harnessing that momentum and creating a long-term movement that’s seen 1 billion invested in our Parks System since, PTNY supporters are a testament to the fact that a small, dedicated group can have a BIG impact.
And while we've undoubtedly seen crucial investment in our public lands’ infrastructure, we’ve also seen this premiere system struggle under vast visitation growth (close to 80 million in 2022 alone!).
PTNY is no stranger to identifying need, assessing options, and creating targeted strategies for impact. That’s why we’re advocating for a critical, one-time capital injection of $500 million for some of our most popular, yet shuttered, State Park facilities in advance 2024's Centennial Celebration.
From Harriman State Park’s closed Lake Sebago beach to Jones Beach’s once popular but now unusable bathhouse facilities, some of our best-loved and most-visited spaces are ailing due to big infrastructure issues. The impact of these spaces being closed is even bigger when we look at the communities that would be accessing them: many historically minoritized populations with far less access to public green space than other groups.
We’re working to make sure that our State Park System is built to last another 100 years—and is accessible and welcoming for all New Yorkers. The benefits—mental, physical, emotional, economic—of public green space are well-documented. We’re committed to making sure every New Yorker has access to them.
Find out more about this advocacy push in our “Big Uglies” article!
Empire State Trail 2.0
Cycling enthusiasts know New York is a great state for adventures. With more than 1,200 miles of multi-use trails—anchored by the longest state-based one in the nation (hey, Empire State Trail!)—we’ve got an amazing greenway network in development.
PTNY is proud of our core role in creation of the 750-mile, state-spanning Empire State Trail (EST), but there are still many, many communities who cannot access the benefits active transportation opportunities like greenways provide. We’re committed to using next-century data to target greenway development for communities with the least access, focusing on BIPoC and economically struggling areas first and foremost. At PTNY we’re firm believers in Margaret Mead’s framing: a small, dedicated group of individuals really can make a big difference. We’re here for it, and we hope you’ll join us.
We’re also focusing on dedicated, big-tent advocacy (watch this space, there will be opportunities to make your “voice for greenways” heard!), to build a movement to last a lifetime. We’re bringing together key advocates, grassroots groups, industry players, environmental organizations, and legislative leaders to expand our greenways network with equity and access as the inviolable core. We’re supporting a history-making legislative package from Assy. Fahy promoting safety for cyclists and pedestrians, unlocking new funding for greenway development and maintenance, and creating new opportunities for greenway expansion. We think it’s pretty darn cool.
From a connected Long Island Greenway to the Erie-Niagara Shoreline Trail, we've got some great projects in our sights!
And we’re not the only ones who are excited by our upcoming “Empire State Trail 2.0” initiative—we’ve recently received a generous, multi-year investment from a new donor committed to supporting our advocacy and vision. If you’re interested in the big things we're doing, you can donate before 12/31/23 to double your gift and unlock this generous match!
Using Next-Century Data to Meet Community Needs
Did we already mention next-century data?? We did??
… well, you can tell we’re excited.
We know that visitation at our State Parks and other public lands has been growing astronomically and shows no signs of stopping. We also know that we’re the beneficiaries of big infrastructural investments from close to a century ago (we’re huge fans of the Civilian Conservation Corps).
As mentioned in our “Big Uglies” article, New York State Parks are at a critical point: we need big investments to ensure we’re building, just like the CCC, for generations 100 years from now. But how do we determine where the biggest need will meet the largest impact?
You guessed it, that data we’ve been discussing.
From locating new greenway spurs and systems to parks infrastructure investments and more accurate usage numbers, we’re ready to ensure accurate data, focused on equity and accessibility, is the core of our work going forward. We know that our public green spaces have a HUGE economic impact for local economies and NYS as a whole, but we also know there is critical information we’re not capturing. We know that parks visitation and trail usage numbers are growing massively… and we ALSO know we are missing so, so many visits in the way we record our numbers. We know that access to public green space has a MASSIVE impact on community and individual wellbeing, but we also know that with our current information systems these impacts are difficult to quantify.
With adoption of better data systems and analysis, we’ll be making assessments even more accurate to ensure investment in our public lands is doing the most it possibly can.… and we’ll also have some very cool infographics for our fellow-nerds who love that kind of stuff!
If you’re interested in just how big of an economic impact our parks, trails and public lands have, watch this space for the big release of our Economic Impact Report launching in February, 2024!
This may be a spoiler alert but… trust us, it’s a big impact.
Building a BIG Inclusive Movement for a Lasting Legacy
You’ve already heard about our “big tent” plan for our greenways advocacy… but if you know PTNY you know we are also the key supporter of grassroots groups caring for New York’s public lands.
We can’t wait to unveil our super amazing (and super impactful) Round 9 of Park and Trail Partnership Grants (PTPG). We are so proud of this program, not to mention the amazing impact our grantees have year-over-year. From building kayaking docks accessible to folks with different mobility needs to multi-lingual guided walking tours, there are some really amazing projects PTPG has funded.
Trust us: 2024 will be no different!
That said, we have noticed that there are more grassroots groups who can benefit from access to critical funding programs like PTPG. We’re proud to be working with our partners at State Parks to expand this critical funding program to more grassroots groups serving green spaces like greenway trails. We’re also excited to open our Friends Convening—the BIG grassroots collaboration and celebration event—to welcome more groups stewarding our world-class green space network. A party is always better when we’ve got more invited, right?
In the spirit of opening the door wider, we can’t wait to expand our dedicated technical assistance, resource provision, capacity building, and networking resources to even more folks in 2024 as well. Our Friends Gateway Portal, the one-stop shop for all things public-land-grassroots-group related, is growing and becoming… you heard it from us… FREE.
2024 is going to be a great one… and that’s not just because we’ll be celebrating the Centennial of one of the best state park systems in the nation (it doesn’t hurt, though, let’s be honest). We’re excited to party while we build and build while we party.
And if you want an “invite to support the impact,” please consider donating generously to PTNY today!
We run on love of green spaces, but we also need funding to do what we do. Your support is always key in our success.