Goals
of .The
Catskill Interpretive Center
Our
Mission:
The mission
of the Friends of the Catskill Interpretive Centeris to encourage
the State of New York, in conjunctioin with local governments
and the private sector, to build the Catskill Interpretive
Center. Once the Center is operational, the Friends will complement
the activities of the State of New York and its Department
of Environmental Conservation in making the Catskill Interpretive
Center an important focus point of environmental, cultural,
educational, and economic activities in the Catskills.
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Our
Vision:
The
vision Statement of The Friends of the Catskill Interpretive
Center
The
Catskill Interpretive Center,
A Catskill Gateway and Meeting Place
We seek
continuing contact, advice, interest and support of Catskill
constituencies for the creation of a regional entity, The
Catskill Interpretive Center, whose purpose is to celebrate
the natural and cultural assets of the Catskills and to interpret
these for residents and visitors. This center is to be an
appropriate public entry point for those who seek information
about The Catskill Park and Forest Preserve to better understand
the unique environment and natural history of the Catskills
as well as its cultural and artistic assets. It is envisioned
as a learning center for the region, and as a referral point
for its regional museums, amenities, recreational opportunities,
businesses and facilities. Such centers already exist in the
Adirondacks, and are regarded as effective in providing education
and interpretation about that region. The Catskill Park and
Forest Preserve, New York’s second largest park, unlike
similar national and state parks do not have a visitor or
interpretive center; there are many very good local museums
in the region, but they are specialized and devoted to particular
aspects of the culture or history of the Catskills. There
does not exist a facility that is a public gateway to the
Park and to the region.
In seeking
support for the creation of this center, we are attempting
to revitalize a project of a decade ago. In the middle 1980s
a grassroots effort including numerous community members,
local business leaders, political representatives, the New
York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC),
and The Catskill Center for Conservation and Development (CCCD)
led to the development of the idea and concepts for a “Catskill
Interpretive Center.” Plans for such a Center were advanced
in the 1990s by the NYSDEC, with extensive consultation by
advisory boards drawn from the Catskill community. A 62-acre
parcel of land on Route 28 in Mount Tremper, within the town
of Shandaken in Ulster County (and close to the borders of
the towns of Olive and Woodstock), was chosen as the site
of this center. This parcel was acquired by the CCCD and the
Trust for Public Land, and leased to the NYSDEC who at present
continues to manage the property; the State spent over $1
million on road, bridge, site grading, and other improvements
to the property. Architectural blueprints were drawn up for
a 18,600 square foot building and for surrounding grounds,
and plans were created for interpretive exhibits, interpretive
and educational programs, travel information resources, a
reference library, auditorium, gift shop, and hiking trails
and connections to nearby State land. In 1995, the projected
cost of the building (not including the cost of exhibits,
furniture, equipment and supplies) was $ 3.68 million. The
NYSDEC had also completed an Environmental Impact Statement
and a Comprehensive Educational Use Plan for the “Catskill
Interpretive Center.” The impetus for the creation of
the Center came to a halt in the middle 1990s with a change
in State of New York priorities for the Catskills. Center
stage and urgency were given to the extended negotiations
that led to the New York City Watershed Memorandum of Agreement,
a compact among the City, the State, and the communities of
the Catskills that provide water to the City. This successful
compact is now in place.
The need
for an interpretive center for the Catskills remains. We believe
that The Catskill Park and Forest Preserve represent significant
and unique public assets badly in need of an interpretive
center to give them the focus and accessibility required for
their full public value to be realized. The Catskills, and
their visitors and residents, suffer from this unsatisfied
need. We have met with the Board of the CCCD, with proponents
of the proposed Catskill Water Discovery Center, and had contacts
with officials of Ulster County regarding plans for a Tourism
Information Center in Kingston. After numerous meetings and
discussions, we concluded that NYSDEC’s original goals
for a “Catskill Interpretive Center” are, today,
as they were at the time of their formulation, responsive
to strongly felt needs and that the already existing plans
to achieve those goals retain validity. Further, these plans,
both as to programs and as to the facility that would house
them, are highly developed and represent an investment that
should not be unnecessarily duplicated. We also note that
the August, 1999 NYSDEC’s Catskill Forest Preserve Public
Access Plan lists the “Catskill Interpretive Center”
as an action item to be actively pursued in partnership with
other government agencies, local governments and the private
sector. Our meetings with senior NYSDEC officials lead us
to believe that the Agency will respond to an appropriate
initiative by the public. We believe that the proposed Catskill
Water Discovery Center and Ulster County’s Tourism Information
Center represent very valuable additions to the region, highly
complementary and with only minor overlaps to an interpretive
center for The Catskill Park and Forest Preserve. Close contacts
between the principals associated with these three projects
have resulted in statements of mutual support, and of assurances
that there is no significant overlap of mission or of facilities.
Our goal is to organize a process that would encourage the
State of New York to build The Catskill Interpretive Center
based on an update of the plans originally formulated a decade
ago by NYSDEC with the advice of community members, and at
the originally planned site. As part of this process, the
group decided to establish a community organization, The Friends
of The Catskill Interpretive Center, whose initial purpose
is to advocate the building of this center. Once the Center
is operational, under the management of NYSDEC, this organization
aims to energetically complement, as a non-profit private
entity, the activities of the State of New York in making
the Center an important focus point of environmental, cultural,
and educational activities about the Catskills through appropriate
programs, close continuing contact with regional museums and
historical societies, and the fund-raising required for the
sustenance of the Center’s programs. To accomplish this
goal it is essential to develop and demonstrate a strong commitment
from the Catskill community to this project, to provide evidence
of financial support for the capital project from non-state
sources, and to the development of a framework that will provide
continuing community support and commitment once the Center
is a reality. The Friends of The Catskill Interpretive Center
look forward with enthusiasm and commitment to the accomplishment
of this task.
Contacts
Individuals and organizations interested in The Friends of
The Catskill Interpretive Center and in its goals should contact:
Sherret
S. Chase, Chair PO Box 193
...... Shokan, NY 12481 (845) 657-2392 sschase@aol.com
|
E.
F. (Jim) Infante, Secretary ......
PO Box 216
Phoenicia, NY 12464
(845) 688-5205 EttoreInfante@aol.com |
The
Friends of The Catskill Interpretive Center is supported by
private donations including a generous grant from The Wallace
Genetic Foundation for which The Catskill Center for Conservation
and Development is the fiscal agent.
