The Catskill Center recently completed its Strategic Plan for three of its key public sites: Platte Clove Preserve, Thorn Preserve, and the Catskills Visitor Center. We would love to hear what you think about the proposed priorities for each of these well-loved places. Please take the time to review the new Strategic Plan first and then respond to the short survey below.
The Catskills are one of New York’s most extraordinary places, a landscape of high peaks, deep cloves, working forests and farms, world‑class drinking water, and small communities whose future is tied to the mountains around them. The Catskill Park is unusual in that it is both a protected landscape and a lived‑in one, where public lands, towns, hamlets, arts, tourism, and outdoor recreation all exist side by side. Keeping that balance healthy takes long‑term advocacy, careful stewardship, and strong partnerships.
To help meet that responsibility, the Catskill Center has completed a new Strategic Plan for its three anchor properties: Platte Clove Preserve in Hunter, Thorn Preserve in Woodstock, and the Catskills Visitor Center in Mount Tremper. These sites welcome tens of thousands of people each year, and they are often the first place where visitors and residents encounter the Catskill Center’s work and learn the stories of the Catskills.
Click here to review the Catskill Center Strategic Plan 2026–2030 for Anchor Amenities.
In recent years, visitation to these properties has grown steadily, reflecting how much people value time in the Catskill Park. At the same time, the analysis behind this plan shows that many trips are still short visits or day trips, which means the economic benefits for nearby communities have not yet caught up with the interest in the region. With thoughtful improvements, better information, and stronger connections between trails and nearby towns, visits can turn into longer stays that support local lodging, dining, retail, and arts, all while still caring for the land that draws people here.
The strategic plan lays out a roadmap for the next several years: making trailheads and parking safer, investing in new and upgraded infrastructure like accessible trailheads and visitor facilities, improving trails and signage, and re‑using buildings for education and community use, while also strengthening stewardship at busy sites and expanding visitor information at the Catskills Visitor Center. Across all three properties, the goal is the same: steward natural resources, welcome people in a way that deepens understanding of the Catskills, and supports our communities.
This work is rooted in the Catskill Center’s mission to protect and foster the environmental, cultural, and economic well‑being of the Catskills, and in nearly six decades of advocacy for the Catskill Park, Forest Preserve, and watershed communities. The plan also builds on partnerships with New York State, including support from Empire State Development (ESD) for this study, and looks ahead to continued collaboration with ESD, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, the Department of State, OPRHP, the Catskill Watershed Corporation, local governments, and other nonprofit partners. Together, these partners can help conserve the Catskills and promote the region in ways that are thoughtful, balanced, and sustainable.
Let us know your thoughts:
To make sure this plan reflects the needs and ideas of the people who care about these places, the Catskill Center is inviting public feedback through an online survey.
Whether you are a local resident, a frequent visitor, or someone who has only stopped by once, your input will help shape future improvements at Platte Clove Preserve, Thorn Preserve, and the Catskills Visitor Center and guide how these sites can better serve both the land and surrounding communities.
