Projects

 Boardwalk

The Boardwalk spanning the cattail marsh adjacent to Route 144 was constructed in 2007-2008, to improve access to the Hudson River Interpretive Trail (HRIT). The project was funded and executed entirely with New Baltimore Conservancy monies and labor. In addition to setting concrete footings, vertical supports, and the walkway and rails, volunteers cleared a new path connecting the eastern terminus of the Boardwalk with the HRIT. The New York State Department of Transportation, with guidance from State Senator James Seward, installed an opening through the guiderail to permit walkers access from Route 144 to the Boardwalk entrance. The new Boardwalk offers a great opportunity to view a thriving cattail marsh and its denizens including yellow warblers and wood-peckers. Armies of spring peepers and (small troops) wood frogs can be heard in spring. The path connecting the Boardwalk with the HRIT follows the edge of the marsh and a cottonwood swamp.

Cornell Park

Cornell Park is located in the historical hamlet of New Baltimore. The park offers a great river view of the Hudson. It's a wonderful place to visit anytime of the year. Cornell Park is located in the historical hamlet of New Baltimore. The park offers a great river view of the Hudson. It's a wonderful place to visit anytime of the year. 

In the Winter you can watch and hear the ice crack as great barges break through the ice. Each Spring, fisherman come in hordes to fish for Stripped Bass right from the park. In Summer it's a fun place to hang out and watch the boats go by and to launch your own canoe or kayak. And Cornell Park is especially beautiful in the Fall when the leaves begin to turn. 

 

Working with the New Baltimore Town Board and the Greene County Soil and Water Conservation District, the Conservancy obtained a grant from the Greenway Conservancy for the Hudson River Valley to stabilize the park’s shoreline and generally improve park grounds. Large boulders were hauled in by local contractor Rob Van Etten and placed along the shoreline to deter erosion. A culvert was installed to improve park drainage, and the shoreline was modified to facilitate the putting in and taking out of kayaks and canoes. The work was performed in 2005. 

In spring, 2009, the New Baltimore Conservancy funded repairs to the roof of the gazebo that sits close to the River shore. The repair carpentry was performed by volunteer Dean Hildebrandt and other local residents who gather every year to fish for striped bass during the spring runs.

River Road

River Road, also known as Route 61, starts in the Hamlet of New Baltimore, at the old school house and continues south approximately 6 miles to the town of Coxsackie. Along River Road you'll find beautiful vistas of the Hudson Valley. Rolling hills, creeks, streams and old farms and farmhouses dapple the road.

   

Mapping Project

The Conservancy Awarded $7,500 Matching Grant

 

With a $7500 grant from the Greenway Conservancy for the Hudson River Valley, the New Baltimore Conservancy was able to join a partnership with the Greene County Soil and Water Conservation District to acquire a GPS unit and to receive training in its use. With this expertise, trail maps were updated and can be periodically modified as new trails are added or routes, changed.

 

Three members of the New Baltimore Conservancy completed the Hudsonia Biodiversity Assessment training program in 2004, which resulted in a preliminary map of the biodiversity of the Hudson River Corridor from the (southern) New Baltimore town line to the Hamlet. This map was included in a report presented to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in October, 2004. As part of the out-reach component of the Hudson River Corridor Mapping and Inventory Project, members of the New Baltimore Conservancy participated in a presentation of biodiversity mapping methods and tools to the town boards and planning boards of New Baltimore, Coxsackie and Athens, April, 2006.

  Hudson River Interpretive Trail (0.4 mi, one way)

Access to the Hudson River Interpretive Trail is from the Hannacroix Creek Preserve parking area via a path that leads down to State Route 144. Across Route 144, the trail traverses a cat-tail marsh on a boardwalk constructed by Conservancy volunteers in 2007-2008. It then enters a cottonwood forest, to join with an old ice-harvesting dirt road from which can be seen the chimney ruins of one of the many ice houses once common in New Baltimore. At 0.3 miles, a short side-path leads to a wildlife viewing platform over-looking a tidal pond.

 

The main trail continues across a bridge spanning the tidal creek connecting the pond to the Hudson River. Conservancy volunteers and contractors constructed the Bridge in 2000 with “lumber” fabricated from re-cycled plastic water bottles. The bridge project was funded by grants from the New York State Empire State Development Corporation, the Hudson River Foundation, and the Greenway Conservancy for the Hudson River Valley. From the “recycled plastic bridge,” the trail proceeds another 500 ft to its terminus overlooking the Hudson River and Hannacroix Creek Cove.