The effects of New York State's budget crisis are starting to become apparent to us all. To the cross country ski community, they've already shown up. As a result of the budget cuts, the seasonal staff at Minnewaska State Park is now all part-time. Because of that, the amount of trail that can be kept groomed for use by skiers and hikers has been reduced to less than 10 miles from the usual 20 miles.

Eric Humphrey, Park Manager, said, "We will keep the trails open at that level as long as the equipment is available and we have enough staff." At this point, only the Lower Minnewaska, Upper Awosting, and Castle Point trails are still open.

One side-effect of this was the removal of the usual fee for use of the trails in winter. Humphrey said, "It was determined that it was not appropriate to charge the fee for this reduced amount of open trails."

The budget crisis was matched in ferocity by the ice storm of December 12. A tremendous amount of damage was done to the trees in the park. Many trails are now closed, and will remain so until park workers can get access to the damaged limbs, "widow makers," and broken trees that resulted from the inch or so of ice that fell on the park during the storm. Humphrey asked that anyone using the park respect the signs that have been put in place. "Closed trail signs should be obeyed for public safety."

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