Environmental Impact Award, Safe Hiking, & Owl Prowl

Several pieces of news to share from Champlain Area Trails (CATS)!

Environmental Impact Award

I was honored to receive the Environmental Impact Award from the New York State Outdoor Education Association at its annual conference on October 4 at Silver Bay on Lake George. This is really an award for Champlain Area Trails because it is you who provide the vision, support, volunteer effort, and encouragement that makes it possible for CATS to save land and make trails.

In announcing the award, Brian DeGroat, the Association’s Northern Regional Director and Director of Pok-O-MacCready’s Outdoor Education Association said that, “Champlain Area Trails has had a tremendous environmental impact on New York’s Champlain Valley. You have increased outdoor education opportunities, saved important properties, and fostered a new sense of optimism. And on a practical level, at Pok-O-MacCready, when we need to take the kids out on hikes closer to home, the CATS trails are perfect.”

Let’s all take a moment to acknowledge and celebrate the impact we are making. Thank you.

Safe Hiking

It is hunting season so please wear orange or bright colors when you are out on the trails. Please note that the following trails are especially safe because they are on land where hunting is prohibited:

– Boquet Mountain Trail
– Rocky Ledges Trail
– Wildway Overlook Trail
– Black Kettle Nature Trail
– Beaver Flow Frail
– Bobcat Trail
– Crown Point State Historic Site
– Champlain Bridge

The following trails are closed because of hunting season:

– Homestead Trail
– Field and Forest East Trail
– Field and Forest West Trail (the middle portion only is closed)

All the other trails are open, and make sure to wear orange or bright colors.

Owl Prowl

Sign up for CATS’ first “Owl Prowl” on Saturday November 8 from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Naturalist Gregg Van Deusen will lead a moonlit early-evening hike on Bobcat Trail and make owl calls that will hopefully elicit responses from owls in the woods and field.

Click here to sign up, email a response to info@champlainareatrails.com, or call 518-962-2287.

There is a suggested $5/person donation and a limit of 25 participants.

Chris Maron
Executive Director

About Champlain Area Trails (CATS)

Champlain Area Trails (CATS) is a non-profit organization, begun in 2009, which creates and maintains hiking and cross-country ski trails in the Champlain Valley that link communities, connect people with nature, and promote economic vitality. In its short history, CATS has developed 35 miles of trails that when added to existing trails, gets it half-way toward the long-envisioned goal of a 30-mile trail loop between Westport and Essex. CATS will extend its trails to neighboring towns and eventually connect them to trails in the Adirondack Mountains, Vermont, and Quebec. Learn more on the CATS website.