From left, last Saturday Niskayuna Supervisor Jaime Puccioni, NYSOPRHP Saratoga-Capital Region Director Alane Ball Chinian, NY Representative Phil Steck and Josh Bennett, a member of Friends of Niskayuna Trails, gathered for a ceremony to celebrate the transfer of land, now known as Mohawk River Nature Preserve, from the state to the town.
Josh Bennett, from Friends of Niskayuna Trails, works on a new trail at the Mohawk River Nature Preserve in Niskayuna. Volunteers have been maintaining trails on the land for years.
After years of institutional neglect, the land formerly known as Mohawk River State Park has finally landed where it belongs: in the loving embrace of local residents.
The 113 acres of wooded land bounded by the Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail and River Road in Niskayuna have gone through several ownership and name changes over the last few decades. The one-time Schenectady Museum Nature Preserve became the Mohawk River State Park in 2006 when the state bought the land from the museum for $1 million. Now, and hopefully far into the future, it will be known as Mohawk River Nature Preserve, a Niskayuna town park.
The new name became official last Saturday, when Niskayuna Town Supervisor Jaime Puccioni, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Saratoga-Capital Region Regional Director Alane Ball Chinian, New York State Representative Phil Steck and a dozen or so residents gathered near Lock 7 in........