Tree Removal Commencing at Testimonial Gateway Trailhead

Please note that the area around the Testimonial Gateway (Route 299 West near Gatehouse Road) is now a construction zone, so visitor access is curtailed.

To install a new trailhead for safe, off-road visitor access to the Foothills, the Mohonk Preserve has carefully planned to minimize the extent of tree removal. Cutting trees before March 31 meets the U. S. Fish & Wildlife habitat regulations to mitigate potential disturbance to the nesting of endangered Indiana Bats.

The Town Planning Board approved the removal in connection with the overall Foothills site plan in 2016, and the Mohonk Preserve received a building permit and recently walked the site with the New Paltz Building Department to review and approve the final tree cutting plan.

Trees to be removed are within an area that was open farmland until the 1950s and has now grown in. Some trees cut will be recycled for use on-site in rustic benches and a Mohonk-style “summer house.” The trees that remain will be incorporated into the new trailhead for shade, natural carbon storage, air pollution filtration, and to absorb rainwater and lessen runoff. The heritage White Oaks to the west – part of the historic “Arbuckle’s Woods” – will also be preserved as an intact forest tract.

photo: Dan Torres