Contact: Robert Proudman FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Appalachian Trail Conservancy

Tel: 304.535.2200 x103
Fax: 304.535.2667
Email: bproudman@appalachiantrail.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ATHike
Web: www.appalachiantrail.org

NEW YORK STATE APPALACHIAN TRAIL AGREEMENT TO BE SIGNED JUNE 17
Bear Mountain State Park, NY (June 12, 2014) The National Park Service, the Appalachian Trail
Conservancy (ATC) and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation will be
hosting a Signing Ceremony for the New York State Agreement regarding the Appalachian Trail (A.T.) on
Tuesday, June 17, at Bear Mountain State Park in New York. The signing of the Agreement is a renewal
of a 10-year commitment between nine partners to work together and manage New Yorks 85-mile
section of the A.T.

The Agreement defines partner roles, stipulates standards, commits to a protective footpath corridor, asks
the land managing partners to commit to protecting that corridor, and coordinates the management
operations, development, maintenance and monitoring responsibilities for the A.T. through New York.
Partners include the National Park Service Appalachian National Scenic Trail; New York State Office of
Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation; New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation; Palisades Interstate Park Commission; New York State Police; New York State
Department of Transportation; New York State Bridge Authority; the ATC; and the New York-New Jersey
Trail Conference.

This new agreement reaffirms our commitment to provide an unparalleled hiking experience in New York
and, with our six agency and two nonprofit partners, continue to protect and preserve the Appalachian
Trail for future generations, said Wendy Janssen, superintendent of the Appalachian National Scenic
Trail.

The signing will take place 10 days after National Trails Day (June 7, 2014), continuing to shine a light on
the importance of recreational trails and the national trails system, which today includes 11 national
scenic trails, 19 national historic trails and more than 1,000 recreation trails nationwide. New York hosts
three national trails, including the A.T., the North Country National Scenic Trails, and the Washington
Rochambeau National Historic Trail. The A.T. was designated a National Scenic Trail in 1968 with the
passage of the National Trails System Act.

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation is indeed proud to renew its
commitments with the traditional trail partners in New York and to continue to do our best to protect and
manage this important park corridor across New York, said Executive Deputy Commissioner Andy Beers.

New York State can be considered the birthplace of the Trail because the very first segment was built
between Ramapo River and Finger Board Mountain in Harriman State Park in 1922. Now, 92 years later,
New York is one of 14 eastern states between Maine and Georgia traversed by the A.T. The 2014
agreement will be the third A.T. Agreement signed in New York since the early 1980s.



Within the 14 states, the A.T. crosses six other units of the National Park System, eight National Forests,
two Fish & Wildlife Refuges and dozens of state parks, forests and game land units, including a number
of municipal parks spread out over 88 counties in 189 different towns or townships stretching from
Springer Mountain in Georgia to Katahdin in Maine.

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy is excited to continue our partnership with seven governmental
partners in New York as well as the local maintaining club, the New YorkNew Jersey Trail Conference,
to ensure the ongoing protection and management of the Appalachian Trail, Americas most famous long-
distance path, said Ron Tipton, executive director and CEO of the ATC.

For more information about the ATC and its relationship with its partners, visit www.appalachiantrail.org.

Event Overview:
Signing of the New York State Agreement, a 10-year statement of joint policy on the protection and
management of the Appalachian Trail
Date: Tuesday, June 17
Time: 1 to 3 p.m.
Location: Bear Mountain Inn, Bear Mountain, NY

About the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference
Since 1920, the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference has partnered with public agencies to create,
protect and promote a network of more than 2,000 miles of public trails in the greater New York
metropolitan area. For more information, please visit www.nynjtc.org.

Contact: Ed Goodell
New York-New Jersey Trail Conference
Tel: 201.512.9348
Fax: 201.512.9012
Email: goodell@nynjtc.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/nynjtc
Web: www.nynjtc.org

About the Appalachian Trail Conservancy
The ATC was founded in 1925 by volunteers and federal officials working to build a continuous footpath
along the Appalachian Mountains. A unit of the National Park Service, the A.T. ranges from Maine to
Georgia and is approximately 2,185 miles in length. It is the longest hiking-only footpath in the world. The
mission of the ATC is to preserve and manage the Appalachian Trail ensuring that its vast natural
beauty and priceless cultural heritage can be shared and enjoyed today, tomorrow, and for centuries to
come. For more information, please visit www.appalachiantrail.org.

Contact: Robert Proudman
Appalachian Trail Conservancy
Tel: 304.535.2200 x103
Fax: 304.535.2667
Email: bproudman@appalachiantrail.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ATHike
Web: www.appalachiantrail.org

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For more information or to schedule an interview, please call Javier Folgar at 304.535.2200 x117 or e-
mail jfolgar@appalachiantrail.org.