Resources and Links

These are some local area resources for hiking and the outdoors.


Organizations

The Nature Conservancy
An amazing organization that works to conserve and protect natural places and habitats throughout the world. They have a few wonderful sanctuaries in Westchester and their Eastern NY executive office is located at the Butler Memorial Sanctuary, in Mount Kisco.

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Audubon Society
“Audubon’s mission is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity.”
There are several local chapters of the Society that manage preserves and sanctuaries in Westchester county. Here’s a few:
Bedford Audubon Society
Central Westchester Audubon Society
Hudson River Audubon Society
Saw Mill River Audubon Society

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New York-New Jersey Trail Conference
“New York-New Jersey Trail Conference volunteers build, maintain, and protect 1700 miles of hiking trails in the NY-NJ metro region and educate the public about their responsible use.” They also create maps and guides for many areas in NY, NJ and now CT. They recently published a book called Walkable Westchester. This is right up our alley!

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Westchester Land Trust
“Westchester Land Trust was founded in 1988 by a group of residents of Lewisboro and Bedford who were concerned about the increasing pace of development in their towns, and who wanted to take action to protect environmentally-important open space and the character of their communities.”

They have 8 preserves with walking trails, and have helped preserve 6,147 acres in Westchester as of 2/09. They also helped in the land purchase by the village of Mount Kisco a parcel adjacent to Byram Lake, which supplies all its drinking water.

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Pound Ridge Land Conservancy
“The Pound Ridge Land Conservancy (PRLC) is a private, non-profit corporation, with the mission of preserving the rural character of Pound Ridge through the acquisition and maintenance of undeveloped land. The Conservancy’s preserves are kept in their natural state, for aesthetic, ecological and educational purposes. The preserves are held in perpetuity, i.e. they cannot be sold.”

The PRLC has a project in the works to restore a house donated to them, the Armstrong House, to be used as the primary residence for a land steward. The land steward will work to maintain current preserves as well as develop ecological and educational programs. Sounds great.

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Teatown Lake Reservation
“Teatown Lake Reservation is a nonprofit, environmental organization with an 834-acre nature preserve and education center located in the Lower Hudson Valley in the Towns of Yorktown, Cortlandt, and New Castle, New York. Teatown Lake Reservation’s mission is to conserve open space and to educate and involve the regional community in order to sustain the diversity of wildlife, plants and habitats for future generations. We are devoted to conserving biodiversity, teaching ecology and promoting nature-friendly living.”

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Trails.com
Great national resource for trail information.

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Westchestergov.com Parks
Westchester county parks information from Westchester’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation.

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Shopping and Equipment

American Terrain Outdoors
An outdoors outfitter in White Plains. Good selection of merchandise, from tents to boots and clothing to kayaks. Manny, the owner, is knowledgeable and friendly. Recommended.
175 East Post Road
White Plains, NY 10601
(914) 682-3971

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Charles Department Store
This place is great. They have everything from barbecue grills to Woolrich blankets to measuring cups. They stock very good quality merchandise, and are in Katonah, so the prices are a bit higher than you might pay elsewhere. But what a great selection. Downstairs is housewares and shoes, etc. Upstairs is clothing. The clothing they stock is more “traditional” outdoorsy clothing, but it’s all top-notch quality.
113 Katonah Avenue
Katonah, NY 10536
914-232-5200

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Kelloggs & Lawrence
This Katonah hardware store, which has been in business since 1887, stocks a great selection of camping and hiking gear, amongst many other things.
26 Parkway
Katonah, NY 10536
914-232-3351

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Other websites of interest

These are assorted links to other websites that contain related information.

Walks in Westchester
This person has a serious jump on me. A website run by Lynn Salmon, giving information about… walks in Westchester. Great resource.

Hiking Trails and Walking
Another website that lists area parks and trails.

Hiking Sites East of the Hudson
NY-NJ-CT Botany Online has a huge list of places to hike, as well as other interesting information about the region’s ecology.

The Leatherman’s Loop
A great resource for trail runners in the Westchester area, with information about races, training, and running get-togethers.