Mountain bikers and hikers will no longer have to venture outside of Port Washington for their recreational activities as the Town of North Hempstead approved an agreement with Concerned Long Island Mountain Bicyclists (CLIMB) on June 5 to construct five miles of mountain bicycle and hiking trails in the town’s Hempstead Harbor Nature Sanctuary, 200 wooded acres across the road from North Hempstead Beack Park. The new trails come from a collaborative effort among CLIMB, the town and PW Green, a local nonprofit organization based in Port Washington whose mission is to protect natural areas, promote eco-friendly living and provide environmental education, at no cost to the town and its taxpayers.
PW Green had been studying the old sand pits site to determine its value as a preserve, and soon discovered the sanctuary is a mix of freshwater wetlands, ponds and forest. The organization realized that the sanctuary was a “beautiful, natural habitat that is not currently being enjoyed by the people of the Town of North Hempstead,” said PW Green member and executive director of Port Youth Activities (PYA) Brandon Kurz.
“One of [PW Green’s] board members, Herb Mills, reached out to CLIMB to see if the area between the Aerodome and the golf course would be a suitable area for mountain biking and hiking trails,” said Kurz, explaining how PW Green’s two-year vision came to life. “They visited the area and CLIMB said because of the pre-existing trails and room to build more trails, it would be a good place for this type of activity.”
PW Green and CLIMB approached Councilwoman Dina De Giorgio about a year and a half ago with their plan for the sanctuary. CLIMB will modify already existing trails and add new trails for a total of five miles of sustainable, recreational trails that will resist the forces of erosion. The trails will be designed in loops that will bring hikers and cyclists back to the starting point, which reduces the chances of getting lost.
“CLIMB was established in 1990,” said president of CLIMB Michael Vitti. “We have built and currently maintain 175 miles of mountain bike trails across the island. This will be a great community asset for the peninsula. If you were to hire a contractor it would probably cost about $120,000 to build five miles of trails and that’s the value of our donation to the town. The maintenance is going ot cost almost $5,000 to $10,000 to maintain the trails because we have to cut back the poison ivy and the stick bushes. This is going to be a great amenity for the Town of North Hempstead so they don’t have to drive so far to go to the other mountain bike trails that we have.”
CLIMB has created mountain bike trails in parks like Bethpage State Park, Cunningham Park, Greenbelt Trail and more. After creating trails, the organization utilizes volunteers to maintain the trails by cleaning trash along the trails, clearing fallen trees or branches, pruning back tail growth, making sure the trail markers are visible and more.
“CLIMB comes in and creates the trails at no cost to the town and maintains them at no cost to the town,” said De Giorgio. “They have a lot of volunteers and I thought frankly it was a little too good to be true. I did my own research about the organization. Everything they said was true. We did speak to a few other municipalities. I arranged a meeting at the town with the parks department, the town attorney and CLIMB. We just wanted to see if there was anything that we were missing and there wasn’t.”
De Giorgio explained that CLIMB offers programs for children to introduce them to mountain biking, teach skills and get them to engage in physical activity. PYA is even looking to add a mountain biking program to their list of offerings in the future.
While there is no specific timeline for construction of the trails of yet, it will begin in upcoming months and a grand opening ceremony will be held once they are completed.
For more information on CLIMB, visit www.climbonline.org. For more information on PW Green, visit www.pwgreen.org.
