Greenway Vision Springs to Life in Central New York

A Greenway Vision Springs to Life in Central NY

As in much of the country, mountain biking has enjoyed a surge in popularity in South-Central New York. The Chenango Greenway has been a beneficiary of that youthful energy and enthusiastic leadership as the sport has brought renewed interest in using the trails along the Chenango River and developing new ones on the hillsides that surround the City of Norwich.

The dream of a “greenbelt” along the Canasawacta Creek and Chenango River, which largely define Norwich’s boundary, goes back at least to the 1960s.Despite the creation of an official commission to make the vision a reality, the project never really took off, and the idea languished for a number of years. Then in the late 1990s a group of local citizens began to share much of that same dream of transforming the overlooked and underappreciated land along the Chenango River from individual backyards into the community’s shared front yard.

Chenango Greenway Conservancy is born

After working as an informal group for a number of years, the Chenango Greenway Conservancy was organized as a not-for-profit corporation in 2006, with the mission of developing public access to open spaces in Chenango County. Since then the organization has worked closely with both the local public schools and the City of Norwich to obtain licenses to develop and maintain a number of miles of trails along about five miles of the Chenango River for hiking, fishing, bird-watching, and biking.

While early on the emphasis was on maintaining trails, the new energy of the mountain bikers has happily forced the Greenway Conservancy to place new emphasis on actually using the existing trails and adding new ones.

Purchase of quarry sparks community interest

With the enthusiastic support of the bikers, the Greenway Conservancy has purchased a long-abandoned stone quarry on the western edge of the City of Norwich which has been the destination for generations of youthful adventurers. Together with land owned by the city school district and Chenango County, the nearly 200 acres of stone quarry property forms the centerpiece of the developing Norwich Community Forest, which acts as the wooded backdrop for much of the city.The Community Forest has already hosted two well-attended, weekend-long mountain biking events which attracted bikers from many parts of the state. Happily, the event organizers and the Greenway Conservancy received many compliments on the excellent location and layout of the course for these events.

The wide-ranging efforts to raise the funds needed to purchase the quarry have had a very beneficial effect on both the Greenway Conservancy and the local community. Not only has it built positive ties with several local foundations that have donated generously to this effort, but the Greenway Conservancy has also received hundreds of smaller donations from community members who have enthusiastically contributed money, along with anecdotes and stories of the role the quarry has played in their lives. The work to purchase and develop the stone quarry has also caused the Greenway to develop relationships with local government officials that will be very helpful in the future.

Sunrise solar eclipse from Stone Quarry overlooking Norwich

Two key land contributions

The renewed interest and enthusiasm for the Greenway concept has also motivated several individuals to make generous and strategic contributions of land. Patsy’s Riverview is a five-acre parcel of open fields on a low knoll on the bank of the Chenango River within the City of Norwich. It incorporates a portion of the Greenway Riverwalk and abuts the redesigned Greenway Park with its new playground and dog park. Patsy’s Riverview is being developed with seating, flower plantings, and new trees as a place for quiet enjoyment and contemplation. The hope is that it will become part of a proposed mile-long loop trail on both sides of the river.

The second key contribution is the 54-acre Three Amigos property located on the east side of the Chenango River just outside the city limits, with a long stretch of river frontage that includes open fields and forest. This donation preserves farmland, maintains the riparian buffer maintained, and opens up new environmental education opportunities. The hope is that this land can someday be connected to the Riverwalk trails on the opposite side of the river.

All together, the Greenway Conservancy and mountain bikers are maintaining12-15 miles of hiking and biking trails along about five miles of the Chenango River and on the hillside overlooking Norwich.In addition, the Greenway Conservancy has not lost track of the long-term dream of working with other regional trail group to create a Chenango Canal Heritage Trail stretching from Utica to Binghamton.

The Greenway Conservancy greatly appreciates the help that PTNY has provided in the past, and we hope that the local and regional support and credibility that we have been building with our current efforts will help to make the heritage trail dream a reality in the not-too-distant future.

Tom Holmes

Chenango Greenway Conservancy