The Catskill Mountains
The Watershed Forestry Institute for Teachers is held in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York. Much of the Catskill Region is inside the "blue line" of the Catskill Park and its lands are designated by the State as "forever wild" and protected as Forest Preserve. Additionally, the New York City Watershed, an area within the Catskills the size of Delaware, supplies NYC with 90% of its daily drinking water. For overviews of the Catskill Park and Forest Preserve, and the New York City Watershed, visit the Catskill Park and Forest Preserve and the NYC Watershed portions of the Catskills GIS Atlas web site.

This year's Watershed Forestry Institute for Teachers will be held at the Menla Mountain Retreat and Conference Center in Woodland Valley in the middle of the Catskill Park and NYC Watershed. Menla is comprised of 17 buildings on a 320-acre estate surrounded by State Forest Preserve.

For a close-up look at where Menla is located in the Catskill Mountains, click here for a map.

Accomodations
Attendees will stay in one of three houses:

Snowlion

• Two-story house with cathedral ceiling, living room, kitchen, meeting room, and sundeck
• Four bedrooms (sleeps up to 9)
• One bath with jacuzzi and one bath with shower.

• Two-story house with upstairs kitchen/dining room, sundeck
• Three bedrooms (sleeps up to 8)
• One bathroom and one half-bath
• Downstairs meeting room, one bedroom, bathroom and shower.

• Two-story with upstairs kitchen, dining/living room
• three bedrooms (sleeps up to 8)
• One bathroom with jacuzzi and one full bathroom
• Downstairs meeting room, one bedroom (sleeps 2) and one bathroom

Dining
Menla's gourmet chef specializes in a wide variety of organic, protein balanced vegetarian and international cuisine. The majority of the meals will be vegetarian and organic, however, we have made arrangements for some meat entrees to be served.

Meal times are as follows:

• Breakfast: 7:30 - 8:30am
• Lunch: 12:00 - 1:00pm
• Dinner: 6:00 - 7:00pm

Equipment & Facilities & Recreation
There is free WiFi Internet access in both the dining hall (Delos) and the conference center. For a map of the grounds at Menla Mountain Retreat and Conference Center, click here.

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Site design by Aaron Bennett, Director of Education
Comments or suggestions regarding this site or its content?
Email: abennett@catskillcenter.org or call 845.586.2611