Dear Mr. Hohengasser:

I read that you were holding meetings to explain the Master plan process for the Minnewaska State Park. Although unable to attend either the New Paltz or Ellenville meetings, we would like to share some of our vision for what we believe would be a good usage of the parkland for the people of the state of New York as well as it's neighbors in Gardiner and surrounding towns.

I represent Gardiner Residents for Individual Property Rights (GRIP) Our website is wwww.gripnow.net. I can tell you up front that GRIP does not support spending of taxpayer money for preservation of open space. Clearly, we would have rather seen the additional Awosting Preserve lands be used forsensible private development rather than be purchased by the state with taxpayer money. That said, now that the land transfer is over, we have an interest in seeing that the land is used to the best advantage of all of the people who paid for it...the taxpayers.

The bulk of Minnewaska State Parks' acreage is in Gardiner. Indeed, about a quarter of Gardiner's land is preserve, between Minnewaska and neighboring Mohonk Preserve. The approximate cost to the state taxpayers to annex the Awosting portion of Minnewaska from John Bradley was about $18,000,000, or roughly $32,000 for each and every one of Gardiner's 5,600 citizens.

GRIP believes that if you must hold vast land tracts open without any tax benefit to the people, and have the people support the upkeep of said land through tax dollars, then the people should be able to derive some benefit from the land in return. Keeping unreasonable restriction on use because of vague and unsubstantiated environmental fears are not acceptable to GRIP. Indeed, we are neighbored by two well known and well traversed parks, one being the Mohonk Mountain House resort which hosts hunderds
of thousands of guests a year, and the other is Mohonk Preserve, which has miles of carriage roads and trails that are hiked, biked and climbed by hundreds of thousands of people. Between the two, our Shawangunk mountains get a lot of footprints on them each year. However, the tale of the Awosting section of the Minnewaska State Park is another story.

After it was purchased by the state a year or more ago, signs immediately went up to put restrictions on any and all activities that might be enjoyed by people. For a time, fishing and walking were still allowed, but the use of the lakes and any access other than by foot is strictly denied.

So, in your effort to actually make a plan for the future of Minnewaska State park including the newest Awosting portion of it, here are some of the ideas that GRIP would like to see initiated:

1) Each resident of Gardiner and the surrounding towns that border the park should have lifetime free passes to the park.
2) fishing of all types, within regular season, should be allowed on the lakes.
3) Hunting permits of all types, in all seasons should be issued and allowed in the parks so that deer, black bear, and other wild animals can be culled and controlled, and so that people can hunt them for the meat they can bring. This will in some small way mitigate the property damage that we endure from bears and deer on a regular
and ongoing basis.
4) Residents should freely be allowed to engage in all manner of sport that is condusive to this type of terrain: Hunting, fishing, hiking, swimming, biking, horseback riding, skiing, climbing, snowmobiling, ATV riding, and any other sport that we missed. At one time in the past, there was a golf course at Tillson Lake and this would be good as well.
5) Since there is a tremendous amount of deadfall and dead trees in the park that
is not being properly managed by the park staff, which is a fire hazard in all cases, and particulary to nearby residents, nearly residents should be given permits to
go into the parks to cull deadfall and take out dead trees. Not only would this help better manage the parkland, but residents would be able to get some usable firewood either for personal use or to sell to help offset the $32,000 per person cost of purchase.

These are just a few possible good uses of the parkland. Putting it into a forever wild preservation mode is bad for the land and bad for the people. We certainly hope that you take these ideas and comments into full consideration as you move forward with your plans.

Please let us know of the process of the Master plan, and if and when a draft would be ready for public view. GRIP would certainly be very willing to publish key dates
and any printed plans on our website, and communicate it to our members as well.

Thank you for allowing us a format in which to get our view out.

Sincerely,

Pamela O'Dell, founder - Gardiner Residents for Individual Property Rights
845-255-3557
and
Marion Kells - co founder