ALBANY – The State Department of Environmental Conservation has finalized the Sundown Wild Forest Unit Management Plan Amendment.
The amendment will improve infrastructure, increase public safety, enhance natural resource protection, and improve visitor experiences in the Peekamoose Valley Riparian Corridor in the Town of Denning.
The Peekamoose Valley Riparian Corridor encompasses 275 acres of Forest Preserve land in the approximately 30,000-acre Sundown Wild Forest. The final amendment includes general access and trail improvements including an 80-car parking lot in the Peekamoose trailer field to consolidate parking to a single location; construction of a 60-foot bridge across Bear Hole Brook; and construction of a foot bridge/retaining wall near the wooded pathway entrance to the Blue Hole between the banks of the Rondout Creek and Peekamoose Road.
It also includes closure of 25 designated campsites throughout the western portion of the corridor due to extreme site degradation and natural resource concerns, and construction of two new accessible campsites in locations that minimize natural resource impacts.
The management pan removes the proposal to allow snowmobiling on a portion of the Long Path trail re-route; and construction of a re-route of the Long Path that will accommodate multiple uses such as hiking, biking, snowshoeing, and skiing.
