New York–New Jersey Trail Conference
The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference (NYNJTC) is a federation of more than 95 hiking clubs and environmental organizations with approximately 10,000 members. The Conference is dedicated to building and maintaining marked hiking trails and protecting related open space in the New York and New Jersey. The combined membership of the clubs in the Conference is over 100,000.
The Trail Conference was formed in 1920 when local hiking clubs gathered to plan a system of hiking trails to make Harriman-Bear Mountain State Park more accessible to the public. Trail Conference founders constructed and opened the first section of the 2100 mile long Appalachian Trail in 1923. As more trails were built during the 1930s, a system of trail maintenance was developed giving each hiking club a share of responsibility.
The Trail Conference participates in, or attends in an advisory or information gathering capacity, a number of governmental, quasi-governmental, or not-for-profit agencies, including:
- Adirondack Mountain Club
- Appalachian Trail Conference
- National Park Service
- Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area
- New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
- New Jersey Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife
- New Jersey Division of Parks & Forestry Home Page
- New Jersey State Trails Council
- New York State Department of Environmental Protection
- New York State Trails Council
- Open Space Institute
- Sierra Club (New Jersey Chapter)
- Palisades Interstate Park Commission
- Rivers and Trails Coalition
- Shawangunk Ridge Coalition
- Sterling Forest Partnership
- Taconic Region Park Commission
- US Forest Service