The Mohawk Towpath Byway is one of six America's Byways across the country that succeed in attracting national figures in scenic preservation to host a workshop on Preserving Our Treasured Places on June 12 and 13, 2007, in Schenectady. "This is a unique chance to focus on the visual character and image of the Byway,"said Eric Hamilton when he made he announcement. "We will be able to identify strategies for best protecting those aspects that contribute to that image. This will lead, ultimately, to a locally developed scenic conservation action plan or our stewardship plan." The workshop will be facilitated by Brad Cownover of Scenic America, a not for profit based in Washington, D C, and Pianalto of the America's Byways Resource Center of Duluth, Minnesota with the help of New York State Scenic Byways program in NYS Department of Transportation. Like everything else that the Mohawk Towpath Byway does, the effort is locally fostered by the eight municipalities from the Village and Town of Waterford, City of Cohoes, Towns of Colonie, Halfmoon, Clifton Park, Niskayuna and the City of Schenectady along the historic route of the Erie Canal. The vision is that the Byway will tell the story of the Erie Canal and the role it played in the westward expansion of our country and in the industrial revolution. The Erie Canal also played a major role in our local history as our communities like Cohoes, Crescent, Vischer Ferry, Rexford, and even Schenectady matured in the 19th century. The workshop is being held at the state-of-the-art Training and Conference Center at the Region One Offices of NYSDOT in downtown Schenectady. Municipal officials, planners, stack holders, and community activists have been invited to the two day workshop to envision what the Mohawk Towpath Byway should look like in 10 or 20 years. The America's Byways Resource Center (ABRC) will pick up the cost of the workshop. The Mohawk Towpath Byway must assure local community participation and provide a report on the workshop experience to the ABRC. "In addition the Mohawk Towpath Byway hopes to have a major presence and a presentation at the National Scenic Byway Conference in Baltimore, MD, May 20 to 23, 2007," added Hamilton. Brad Cownover and Curt Pianalto were in the area last month to become familiar with the Byway and the not-for-profit organization that is implementing the Byway effort. This visit also gave our local workshop planning committee insight into scenic and historic preservation techniques as well as an opportunity to finalize the agenda for the workshop in June. Hamilton went on to announce, "We expect to have a firm foundation for a scenic conservation action plan when we complete the workshop. The results of the workshop will be presented at a series of informal public meetings within our Byway communities in late June. These meetings, open to the public, will seek further comment as well as additional ideas about scenic and historic conservation within the Byway corridor." The Mohawk Towpath Byway is one of a network of New York State Scenic Byways and is one of 126 Nationally designated Byways. New York State has three byways that have national designation. For more information about the Workshop or the Mohawk Towpath Byway contact Eric Hamilton, Chairman, Mohawk Towpath Scenic Byway Coalition at 518-383-8565. |
BYWAY HOSTS SCENIC CONSERVATION WORKSHOP |
