Triple Divide Trail System

( = Triple Divide Greenway)

Summary

with map of the

Genesee-Susquehanna Greenway

March 2015

For fuller description, see

Triple Divide Trail System Strategic Plan

(61-page PDF file with maps, photographs, budget, contacts, and other details)

and links to other project and planning documents

on website of

Genesee River Wilds Project

at

www.geneseeriverwilds.org

Genesee River Wilds, Inc.

Crossroads Center, 6087 State Route 19N, Belmont, NY 14813

Registered 501(c)(3) Non-profit Organization

www.geneseeriverwilds.com

1

Triple Divide Trail System ( = Triple Divide Greenway)

Mission: To restore, protect, and enjoy the Genesee River and Pine Creek by raising their profile as

resources for outdoor recreation and sustainable economic development.

Plan: The Triple Divide Trail System will be a unified conservation and recreational system stretching

ca. 230 miles along the Genesee River and Pine Creek from Lake Ontario in Rochester, NY, to the

Susquehanna River in Williamsport, PA. The name derives from its passage over a triple continental

divide separating the headwaters of three national watersheds: the Allegheny River, the Genesee River,

and the Susquehanna River (West Branch and Pine Creek). This recreational system is being created by

connecting existing rail-trails (greenways), water trails (blueways), and nature park areas, including

Letchworth State Park (NY) and Pine Creek Gorge (PA). The approach is integrative and cost effective.

It combines water conservation, natural flood control, outdoor recreation, environmental education, and

sustainable economic development, including new jobs in construction and eco-tourism.

Strategies and Phases

(1) Improve existing trails for bicycles and existing canoe/kayak launches along the Genesee River

and Pine Creek. Existing trails include the Genesee Riverway Trail in Rochester (NY); Genesee

Valley Greenway (NY); Park Road in Letchworth State Park (NY); WAG Trail (Wellsville-Addison-

Galeton rail-trail, from Wellsville, NY, south); Pine Creek Trail (PA); and Lycoming County Trail and

Bikeway in Williamsport (PA). Some canoe/kayak launches on Pine Creek and most on the Genesee

River are rough and informal. This existing recreational infrastructure needs: (a) more signs; (b) more

parking lots; (c) more complementary infrastructure, such as pavilions, restrooms, campsites, and trail

shelters; (d) better surfaces for bicycle trails; (e) improved launches for canoes and kayaks.

(2) Construct new canoe-kayak launches with signs, parking lots, and other complementary

infrastructure to improve blueway (water trail) systems along the Genesee River and Pine Creek.

Often these can be built at low cost near bridges and other public sites, with costs minimized further by

incorporation into new bridge construction. In other cases this requires purchase of land or easements.

(3) Add linking trails to connect existing trails (above) together to form a multi-use rail-trail

stretching from Rochester to Williamsport along the Genesee River and Pine Creek. Only a few

sections of the entire 230-mile system do not already have a trail completed or under development. In

most of these cases old railroad beds or other existing infrastructure will expedite trail construction.

(4) Add inexpensive forested streamside nature parks that simultaneously expand protections for

the stream system while providing immediate jobs in construction, recreational infrastructure for

long-term eco-tourism, and facilities for environmental education. These include camping shelters,

restrooms, pavilions, interpretive signs, wildlife-viewing platforms, and educational kiosks. (5) Continue adding forested riparian (streamside) buffers along the Genesee River and Pine

Creek that offer water conservation, wildlife habitat, and natural flood control while

accommodating existing development. The Genesee River is one of the largest rivers feeding Lake

Ontario. Pine Creek is the largest tributary of the West Branch of the Susquehanna River and thereby

has a major impact on Chesapeake Bay. Agricultural nutrients, industrial toxins, costly flooding, and

risk of overuse will be reduced by buffers reaching at least 300 feet wide on each bank (at least 100 feet

for small tributaries) where existing development allows. In some places this can reach 1/4 mile, which

is the average recommended for the highest class of federally protected rivers. In other sections a

narrower buffer may be a more realistic goal. Local support can be generated by funds for purchase of

land, easements, zoning costs, and sustainable recreational development in these buffers (above).

2

Triple Divide Trail System ( = Triple Divide Greenway)*

Rochester to Williamsport via the Genesee River, Triple Divide, Pine Creek, and Susquehanna River

Distance from Lake Ontario in Rochester to Susquehanna River in Williamsport, approx. 230 Miles.

REVISED MAP, NOVEMBER 1, 2014

Blue: Existing trails (completed or under development), including Genesee Riverway Trail

(Rochester, NY), Genesee Valley Greenway (NY), Park Road in Letchworth State Park (NY), WAG Trail

(trail on Wellsville-Addison-Galeton Railroad bed, from Wellsville, NY, to NY/PA state line, acquired by

NYSDEC 11/2009), Pine Creek Trail (PA), Lycoming County Trail and Bikeway (PA).

Red: Planned linking trails (currently requires temporary detours onto roads): Out of ca. 116 miles

on NY side, only missing ca. 19 miles between Belfast and Wellsville in Allegany County, NY. Out of

ca. 110 miles in main corridor on PA side, only missing ca. 41 miles from NY/PA state line through

Potter County and Tioga County, PA, to the Pine Creek Trail and ca. 13 miles from southern end of Pine

Creek Trail at Susquehanna River in Jersey Shore to Susquehanna State Park in Williamsport. Revised with aid of state agencies, planning commissions, academic institutions, and other groups in NY and PA, by Allen Kerkeslager,

Ph.D., Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia, akerkesl@sju.edu, (610) 660-1121

*Part of planned Genesee-Susquehanna Greenway, Lake Ontario (NY) to Chesapeake Bay (MD); see next maps

Trails in Rochester

Genesee Valley Greenway

Letchworth State Park

Detour on roads 19 mi.

(has 5 mi. of parallel trails)

Detour on roads 41 mi.

(has parallel trails)

WAG Trail

Pine Creek Trail

Detour on roads 13 mi.

Detour on roads 3 mi.

Trails in Williamsport Susquehanna Greenway

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4

2010 Statewide Trails Plan, water trails map for New York, fig. 4, produced by New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; also at http://www.nysparks.com/recreation/trails/documents/StatewideTrailsPlan/StatewideTrailsPlanFigure4.pdf

5

2010 Statewide Trails Plan, greenway trails map for New York, fig.1, produced by New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and

Historic Preservation; also at http://www.nysparks.com/recreation/trails/documents/StatewideTrailsPlan/StatewideTrailsPlanFigure1.pdf.

6

Map of "Pennsylvania's Major Greenway Corridors" produced by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, 2013. Although PA

has a mandate for creating greenways in all 67 counties in the state, the trails ranked as "major greenway corridors" are the backbone systems. Note trail No.

23 (the famous Pine Creek Trail) and trail No. 27 on the map (Triple Divide Trail), which crosses over the state border into New York State and ends in an

arrow indicating its further extension northward along the Genesee River to connect with the Genesee Valley Greenway and continue all the way to

Rochester. Map can also be found here http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/ucmprd2/groups/public/documents/document/dcnr_002138.pdf

7

Potter County Plan, North Central Pennsylvania Greenways Plan (Ridgway, PA: North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development

Commission, with Pashek Associates, 2010), available at http://www.ncentralgreenways.com. Courtesy Matt Marusiak (North Cent. PA Reg. Plan. Devel.

Comm.), John Buerkle and Michael Kotyk (Pashek). Trails No. 7 and No. 1 on this map from 2010 are now identified as part of the Triple Divide Trail

and thus appear as such on the later 2011 statewide PA DCNR map of Pennsylvania's Major Greenway Corridors.

8

Summary March, 2015 by Allen Kerkeslager, Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia, PA, 19131-1395, akerkesl@sju.edu

Above left: USDA Minimum Size (in feet) of Forested Riparian Buffers for Selected Functions From Tjaden and Weber 1997 (MD Cooperative Extension Fact Sheet 725), courtesy Robert Tjaden, Glenda Weber, and Maryland Cooperative Extension