The latest round of mini grants from the Northern Forest Center via the Adirondack Community Recreation Alliance are already having an impact, connecting communities with recreational opportunity, enhancing access and strengthening recreational experiences in and near our towns.

“With this year’s ACRA grants, we wanted to focus on recreational connectivity,” said ACRA steering committee member Jeremy Evans. “One of the core principles underlying our work together is that ‘Recreational Connectivity Rules’ and so we were excited to ask for proposals that would build that element for our communities.”

The Northern Forest Center facilitates and participates in the Alliance and raised funds for this round of grants, totaling over $15,000.

From a robust round of applications, the steering committee chose five projects to support, as well as granting two small event sponsorships. The projects all embody the idea of enhancing recreational connectivity in some way – through physical connections, improved signage, and amenities.

In the Town of Keene, grant funding will be used to complete a connector trail between Keene and Keene Valley, giving bikers, walkers, and runners an option to connect between the two hamlets without being in the shoulder of the heavily-traveled state route 73. “I get calls from parents and residents who want to be able to bike to school, the farmer’s market, or town trails but who are afraid to do that on Route 73,” said local resident and project advocate

In Indian Lake, the Town layered grant funding from ACRA together with other funding sources to establish a new trail that will knit together multiple in-town institutions and amenities.

“We have town land adjacent to school-owned land near our Ski Hut Recreation Area,” said Town Supervisor Brian E. Wells, “Since 2017 the Town has been working to create a multiuse trail network on these lands for the benefit of our students, our residents, and our visitors. We are so excited that this vision is taking shape.”

“We envision kids in the school using these trails for both curricular and extra-curricular activities,” added economic development director Christine Pouch. “Walkers, runners, and bikers will all appreciate the connectivity this new amenity will offer close to our downtown business area – and in the process this will strengthen our town immeasurably.”

In North Creek, the Upper Hudson Trails Alliance will improve the wayfinding signage between downtown North Creek and the Ski Bowl, and add signage on that trail network.

The project will make these close-by recreational assets more visible and easier to navigate, and encourage more residents and visitors to leave their cars behind and move around the community on foot and on bike, exploring all that this trail network has to offer.

In Old Forge, two projects are taking shape: the Adirondack Foothills Trails Alliance will add amenities such as bike tool stations and an expanded biking skills park  in and around the base of the close-to-town McCauley Mountain bike trails, and the Northern Forest Canoe Trail will make needed enhancements to the interpretation and physical structure of a highly visible kiosk that marks the start of both the 90-Miler Canoe Classic route and the longer, four-state Northern Forest Canoe Trail.

Finally, the grant program provided small sponsorships to two events that connect people to recreational opportunities and knit our communities together in novel ways: At the Saranac Lake 3P event, participants trade between two types of skis, bikes, canoes and running shoes to loop the community, and at the Piano in Nature concert sponsored by Champlain Area Trails at the Essex Quarry, participants got to experience music and a dramatic natural setting in a novel and unique way.

The grant program is part of the Alliance’s work to enhance and develop recreation assets, increase region-wide stewardship, and advance policies to secure long-lasting community and economic benefits for Adirondack towns and villages.