Lenape Trail Revitalization

Montclair and Essex County are home to one of the most unique and underappreciated public recreational assets in the Northeast: the Lenape Trail. Have you ever noticed those small (2"x4") yellow rectangles emblazoned on trees and telephone poles along the paths in Brookdale Park and along a number of streets in Upper Montclair? They mark this 'hidden gem' of a trail, which stretches for over thirty miles from the southern entrance of Branch Brook Park in Newark to its junction with the Patriots Path at the Essex County
Environmental Center in Roseland. Along the way, the Lenape Trail winds through sixteen of Essex County's most beautiful parks and reservations, tieing together points of natural and historic interest.

Of even more note, the Lenape Trail is part of a seven-member trail system which together form the Liberty Water Gap Trail (LWGT). The LWGT, now 90% complete, stretches for 130 miles across the entire state of New Jersey,
from the shore of the Hudson River in Liberty State Park, to the Delaware Water Gap.

You can learn more about the trails, and take advantage of its Google Maps-enabled interactive map
at www.libertywatergap.org.

This summer, with the support of the New York New Jersey Trail Conference and the Essex County Parks Department, a project is being kicked off to revitalize and raise public awareness of the Lenape Trail and Liberty Water Gap Trail.

The near-term goal of the revitalization effort is three-fold:

• to repaint faded trail markings
• to erect professional trail medallions for the LT and LWGT in high visibility areas
• to promote its existence to the community
• to reroute and extend the trail in selected areas and incorporate more areas of interest. One of the candidates is the Alonzo Bonsal Preserve in Upper Montclair.

The longer-term, ongoing objective is to raise public awareness, and to establish an informal 'Friends of the Lenape Trail' organization to help maintain, advocate, and promote these trails. Compared to more 'conventional' backwoods trails, the Lenape's demands for support are rather light. There is already an active community engaged in maintaining trail conditions in the parks and reservations, so maintenance here is more about making sure blazes and signs remain in place.

If you're interested in learning more, or in helping with any of these efforts, feel free to contact Steve Marano, the NYNJTC project manager for the revitalization effort, and Acting Director the Liberty Water Gap Trail Coordinating Committee. Steve is looking for help with any of the following:

• Participation in trail blaze/signage planning and field work later this spring and summer
• Ongoing support as an 'Adopt-a-Trail' volunteer for a section of the Lenape Trail
• Organizing future trail promotions (e.g. walkathons, hikes, etc)
• Improving content and map features on the Website help
  (if you know 'Joomla!' Steve would REALLY like to speak with you!)