New York City Strategic Trails Plan

New York City supports 350 miles of trails for residents and visitors, connecting people to the 10,000 acres of natural areas within city parks. The New York City Strategic Trails Plan, building off the data collected for the Forest Management Framework for New York City, quantifies the investment needed to build and maintain a trails system, offers recommendations for trail improvement and maintenance, and describes funding needs.

In a nutshell, this resource offers:

• A breakdown of trails in New York City: where they are, how long they are, their condition, and their maintenance needs.
• Recommendations for achieving cohesive and fully-funded nature trails across the whole city.
• Trail management and design guidelines.
• Examples of city-wide trail plans from other cities across the country.

How to use this resource:

• As a reference for maintaining or creating trails in urban forested natural areas, including a suggested activity checklist/plan for a 12 month period.
• For a reference list of required trail construction equipment.
• As a guide for conducting a trail inventory and ideas for improvements to nature trail systems in other cities.

Author: The Natural Areas Conservancy, Street Plans, Penn Trails, and Arterial, LLC.

Date published: 2021

Point of contact: Julia Raskin, Trails Program Manager, Natural Areas Conservancy, julia.raskin@naturalareasnyc.org   

Citation: 2021. New York City Strategic Trails Plan. Natural Areas Conservancy, New York, NY.

Resource is available online here.