The Big Picture
The Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail Master Plan is currently undergoing a GEIS environmental review process in accordance with SEQRA. The Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation is the Lead Agency conducting the review.
Click here to download the New York State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) Final Scoping Document (PDF).
The Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail Draft Master Plan is now available as a digital flipbook for easier viewing and navigation!
Please note: If you wish to download a PDF of the Draft Master Plan, you may do so by clicking here. This is a sizeable file (160+MB) and is not recommended for download on mobile devices.
Overview
The Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail Master Plan proposes a linear park that embraces the ecological diversity of the region, highlighting the four distinct landscape types found along the trail: River’s Edge, Highlands, Forest, and Marsh.
The trail itself will be constructed according to five unique user experiences: a largely ADA-accessible Main Trail, Entries and Destinations, Meanders (smaller, secluded byways off the Main Trail), Connectors, and Trail Banks—places where people can rest and regroup.
Accessibility to people of all ages and abilities is a driving force behind the trail design. Visit the Accessibility page for more information.
Project Goals
The goals of the project are as practical as they are visionary:
EXPRESS REVERENCE FOR THE REGIONAL LANDSCAPE
The Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail explores the history of the Highlands— Native American, early American colonization, railroad and industrial era, art from the Hudson River School to contemporary times—and the region’s nature and ecology.
The Fjord Trail seeks to connect people to the landscape by creating new ways to experience it. Places and spaces along the trail accessible to all will share our region’s stories past, present and the future.
CULTIVATE THE ECOLOGICAL SUBLIME
The Hudson River landscape has inspired art, poetry, and literature throughout its human history, and now it’s inspiring the creation of a linear park.
In seeking to create a linear park to help people connect with nature, a key goal is to ensure that all design and architecture blend with and highlight the landscape, rather than compete with it.
CULTIVATE THE ECOLOGICAL SUBLIME
The Hudson River landscape has inspired art, poetry, and literature throughout its human history, and now it’s inspiring the creation of a world-class linear park.
In seeking to create a linear park to help people connect with nature, a key goal is to ensure that all design and architecture blend with and highlight the landscape, rather than compete with it.
REUNITE WITH THE RIVER'S EDGE
For over one hundred years, access to the river has been largely cut off by railroad tracks.
With Metro-North Railroad as a key project partner, we've designed a waterfront park that restores that connection to people for boating, fishing, and those toes-in-the-water moments that have not been possible in much of the area for a long time.
CONNECT WITH THE GREATER REGION
The Hudson Highlands is an iconic region with many destinations that are in harmony with the Fjord Trail’s priorities, representing the rich historic, artistic, natural, dining, and community resources of the area.
We seek to partner and connect with local groups and destinations in the Highlands to amplify regional voices. Opportunities abound for activities such as collaborations with local schools and community groups, cultural celebrations and ceremonies, writer and artist residencies, musical and recreational events, scientific research partnerships, corporate retreats, and so much more.
With three train stations in the project area, the draw to the region is more than local; visitors are from the New York City metro area and beyond. This creates endless opportunities to connect people with varied interests from near and far to learn about and experience the Hudson Highlands.
CONNECT WITH THE GREATER REGION
The Hudson Highlands is an iconic region with many destinations that are in harmony with the Fjord Trail’s priorities, representing the rich historic, artistic, natural, dining, and community resources of the area.
We seek to partner and connect with local groups and destinations in the Highlands to amplify regional voices. Opportunities abound for activities such as collaborations with local schools and community groups, cultural celebrations and ceremonies, writer and artist residencies, musical and recreational events, scientific research partnerships, corporate retreats, and so much more.
With three train stations in the project area, the draw to the region is more than local; visitors are from the New York City metro area and beyond. This creates endless opportunities to connect people with varied interests from near and far to learn about and experience the Hudson Highlands.
CHOREOGRAPH VISITATION AND STEWARDSHIP
A key driver of the Fjord Trail was recognition by locals that, while the area is a growing draw for outdoor recreation, roads and other infrastructure were not designed to safely accommodate large numbers of visitors.
Since the 1990s, hiking at Breakneck Ridge has become increasingly popular, now drawing more than 200,000 hikers annually. Improving pedestrian and auto safety along State Route 9D and mitigating erosion and habitat infringement on Breakneck Ridge remain two central project goals.
INSPIRE AND IMPLEMENT
The Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail has a broad vision that will be designed and implemented in phases in conversation with the community, emerging programmatic partnerships and the large, long-standing project coalition that has brought the Fjord Trail this far.
INSPIRE AND IMPLEMENT
The Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail has a broad vision that will be designed and implemented in phases in conversation with the community, emerging programmatic partnerships and the large, long-standing project coalition that has brought the Fjord Trail this far.
Photography: Greg Miller
Painting: John Douglas (1853–1910), View of the Hudson Highlands with Woman Painting, n.d.
Oil on canvas, 26 3/8 × 41 3/8 inches
Courtesy of Hudson River Museum, gift of Florence E. Kelley
Illustration: Donna Calcavecchio
Photography: Meredith Heuer
Rendering: Gray Organschi Architecture
Photography: SCAPE Landscape Architecture
