Kevin M. Burke, Chair, Greenway Conservancy for the Hudson River Valley,

Co-Chair, Maurice D. Hinchey Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area

Margaretta “Meg” Downey, Chair, Hudson River Valley Greenway Communities Council, Co-Chair, Maurice D. Hinchey Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area

Scott Keller, Executive Director, Hudson River Valley Greenway,

Director, Maurice D. Hinchey Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area 

Important Reminders

• Greenway Planning, Greenway Trail, and Heritage Development Grant Applications are Due November 4, 2022. More details.

Hudson River Valley Greenway's Grant Applications Moving to Good Grants Online Platform Beginning November 5, 2022

Grant applications for all Hudson River Valley Greenway and Maurice D. Hinchey Hudson River Valley National Heritage grant programs, including Community/Compact Planning, Conservancy Trail, and Heritage Development Grants will be moving to an online application process hosted by Good Grants, an online grants platform. The online HRVG Grants Platform will go live on November 5, 2022, and will be the only way to apply for our grants as of that date. A link to the virtual application process and detailed guidance will be found on our website on November 5. This change is being made in part to help ensure we are receiving full and complete applications that may then be considered immediately. Currently, incomplete applications are automatically rejected.

All applications for funding will be required to submit grant applications on the new online platform to apply for funding for all future grant rounds beginning November 5, 2022. Applicants must register on the HRVG Grant Platform using their email address. Older applications will not be accepted after November 4, 2022.

*Note that applications for the November 4, 2022, deadline remain available on our website in a PDF version and must still be submitted by email to grants@hudsongreenway.ny.gov for the current grant round.

Sponsorship applications through the Heritage Area program will remain in a PDF version on our website and must still be submitted at grants@hudsongreenway.ny.gov until December 1, 2022, at which time they will also move to the online HRVG Grants Platform.

If you have any questions or concerns, email grants@hudsongreenway.ny.gov or call us at (518) 473-3835.

HRVG & PTNY Release a New Cycling Guidebook Highlighting the Empire State Trail in the Hudson and Champlain Valleys



The Hudson River Valley Greenway and Maurice D. Hinchey Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area in partnership with Parks and Trails New York released Cycling the Hudson and Champlain Valleys: A Guide to Art, History, and Nature Along the North-South Route of the Empire State Trail this past month. The guidebook covers the 400-mile north-south route of the Empire State Trail, the longest statewide trail in the nation.

The guidebook follows the Hudson River Valley Greenway Trail from Manhattan to Whitehall and continues on through the Champlain Valley between the Adirondacks and Lake Champlain to the Canadian border at Rouses Point. The guidebook includes local history and cultural highlights, and contains extensive listings of attractions, lodging, campgrounds, breweries, wineries, bike shops, information centers, and other amenities. 

“This guidebook is an invaluable resource for all trail users exploring the Hudson River Valley and beyond. The book is a celebration of the north-south trails, the histories of these two iconic valleys, and all who travel them,” says Scott Keller, Executive Director of the Hudson River Valley Greenway and the Maurice D. Hinchey Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area.

Cycling the Hudson and Champlain Valleys retails for $26.95. Visit www.ptny.org to purchase the guidebook.

Maurice D. Hinchey Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area Provides $30,500 to Greater Hudson Heritage Network for 2023 Workshop Series

The Maurice D. Hinchey Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area is providing Greater Hudson Heritage Network $30,500 through a contractual agreement to provide workshop training opportunities for 2023. This year's workshop series, Stone Strategies: Documentation, Stewardship & Conservation of Historic Cemeteries will be a hands-on opportunity for citizens, local historians, educators, librarians, genealogists, community groups, and historical societies to learn professional and practical steps necessary to preserve a cemetery. Those responsible for care and access to cemetery property and the information incised on historic gravestones, will find historians, archivists and conservators on hand in a workshop setting to highlight stewardship issues, demonstrate identification, documentation, cleaning and preservation strategies that can be used.

These workshops will be held in three locations across the Hudson Valley, including:

1. Oakwood Cemetery, Troy (Rensselaer County)
2. Historic Huguenot Street, Huguenot Cemetery/Crispell Memorial French Church Burying Ground, New Paltz (Ulster County)
3. Bedford Historical Society, Old Burial Ground, Bedford (Westchester County)

Learn more about registering for the 2023 workshop series.

Bethlehem Comprehensive Plan Update Received Award From NY Upstate Chapter of the American Planning Association

Each year the New York Upstate Chapter of the American Planning Association highlights projects that illustrate best planning practices in Upstate New York at their annual conference. Awards are made in two categories – Best Practices and Comprehensive Planning. 

At this year's annual conference in Buffalo, the Town of Bethlehem in Albany County was acknowledged for its 2022 Comprehensive Plan Update, which was funded in part by a Community Planning Grant from the Hudson River Valley Greenway (HRVG) and was the Project Spotlight in HRVG's August 2022 Newsletter. This update identified potential infrastructure investments, revised zoning regulations to protect ecologically-sensitive areas, confronted climate change by setting goals to become more environmentally sustainable, and many more ambitious goals. Read the full plan.

Important Reminders

• The Hudson River Estuary Program is Offering Technical Assistance to Create a Municipal Natural Resources Inventory. Learn more.

NYSDEC Announced $1.4 Million in Grants for 23 Projects in Hudson River Estuary Watershed Communities

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in October announced grants totaling more than $1.4 million for 23 projects to help communities along the Hudson River Estuary to improve water quality and enhance environmental education and stewardship. The grants are administered by DEC's Hudson River Estuary Program. Now in its 20th year, the Estuary Grants Program implements priorities outlined in DEC's Hudson River Estuary Action Agenda 2021-2025. To date, DEC's Hudson River Estuary Program has awarded 617 grants totaling nearly $27 million.

Here are the funding recipients: 

• Hudson River Watershed Alliance - $50,000
• Rensselaer Plateau Alliance, Inc. - $23,002
• Riverkeeper, Inc. - $268,042
• Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies - $75,000
• Town of Stanford - $20,406
• Pace University - $37,085
• City of Newburgh - $50,000
• Walter Hoving Home, Inc. - $100,000
• The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York - $74,969
• Arm of the Sea Productions Inc. - $54,467
• Groundwork Hudson Valley - $124,400
• Village of Ossining - $50,000
• Sarah Lawrence College - $70,000
• Billion Oyster Project, Inc. - $75,000
• Friends of Hudson River Park, Inc. - $76,139
• Natural Areas Conservancy, Inc. - $73,923
• New York Outrigger, Inc. - $60,800
• Randall's Island Park Alliance, Inc. - $75,000
• Waterfront Alliance, Inc. - $65,241

Read the full press release and learn more about the Hudson River Estuary Program.

Upcoming Events

Calling All Artists!, Greenwich Free Library, Greenwich, NY

November 2: Artists working in all mediums are invited to meet, imagine, plan, and create on the first Wednesday of every month. Learn more.

Bear Mountain Fall Cleanup, Bear Mountain Inn, Tompkins Cove, NY

November 5: Join Keep Rockland Beautiful and the NYNJTC volunteers to help remove trash and restore the beauty of the Appalachian Trail at Bear Mountain. Find out more.

Climate, Condolence, and Communion: A Performance + Procession, Thomas Cole National Historic Site, Catskill, NY

November 5: Join artist Marc Swanson for a special performance and candlelit procession from the Thomas Cole Site to the Thompson Street Cemetery. More info.

Collecting in Real Time: A Facilitated Dialogue (WEBINAR)

November 9: Join co-facilitators as they engage the people who power collecting organizations across New York State in a 90-minute interactive conversation about the joys, perils, responsibilities, and opportunities of collecting in real-time. Learn more. 

Indigenous Histories: Before Olana, The Original New Yorkers (WEBINAR)

November 9: Learn more about the Native Nations that called New York State home long before colonization. This program will touch on the Haudenosaunee, the Lenape, and the Mohicans and will discuss history and land loss. More details.

Sunset Sensations Wine and Food Event, Locust Grove Estate, Poughkeepsie, NY

November 10: Go to Locust Grove and enjoy a magnificent Hudson River Sunset while sipping fine wines paired with culinary creations! Find out more.

A Conversation on Climate (WEBINAR)

November 10: Join the Thomas Cole Site and Toolshed for a reading circle that grapples with the emotional toll of the climate crisis. Learn more.

Veterans’ Day Nature Camp, Sheldrake Environmental Center, Larchmont, NY

November 11: Join Sheldrake for fall fun and enrichment at our popular STEM program. Your child will enjoy the splendors of autumn, learning about seasonal effects on plant and animal wildlife around Sheldrake’s 60 acres. Read more.

House Tour: Draping the Walls, Hart Cluett House, Troy, NY

November 12: This tour will highlight the paintings and sculpture that grace the walls of the Hart-Cluett House. More info.

Sleepy Hollow Loop Walk, Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic Park, Sleepy Hollow, NY

November 13: This walk and lecture will discuss the Aqueduct and view some of its structures, the ghostly remnants of an old Keeper's House, and more. Learn more.

Benedict Arnold: Hero Betrayed Screening & Lecture, Bennington Battlefield State Historic Site, Walloomsac, NY

November 13: Barnett House (30 Caretakers Road), Filmmakers Tom Mercer and Anthony Vertucci will screen scenes from their new documentary film, Benedict Arnold: Hero Betrayed, showcasing General John Burgoyne's campaign of 1777 including the raid on Bennington. More details.

Invasive Mussel Collaborative Tools and Accomplishments (WEBINAR)

November 16: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Geological Survey, and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission will discuss invasive mussel collaborative tools and accomplishments. Find out more.

Friends of Five Rivers Talk and Trek: Winter Preparation, Fiver Rivers Environmental Center, Delmar, NY

November 17: Join an inquisitive group of adults as you wander Five Rivers and wonder about its inhabitants’ preparations. Learn more.

Thunderbird American Indian Dancers, Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY

November 25: Celebrate Native American Heritage Day with Thunderbird American Indian Dancers, one of the best-known and the oldest resident Native American dance companies in New York, who will perform social dances in two performances. More details.

Mid-Hudson Astronomical Association Monthly Star Party, Lake Taghkanic State Park, Ancram, NY

November 26: The MHAA hosts a monthly stargazing party in the West Beach parking lot. Bring your own telescopes and binoculars or use those provided by members. Find out more.

A Gilded Age Christmas, Staatsburgh State Historic Site, Staatsburgh, NY

November 27: Enjoy Staatsburgh's beautiful interiors, with their original furniture, art and décor, lavishly decorated for the holiday season. Learn more.

Nature on the Move, Wilton Wildlife Preserve & Park, Gansevoort, NY

November 28: Enjoy nature and get an gentle exercise. Read more.

Sound Healing, Rockefeller State Park Preserve, Pleasantville, NY

November 30: Join a therapeutic and restorative sound healing experience. Envelop yourself in the sounds of crystal singing bowls, chimes, and a variety of soothing instruments as you allow your mind to drift from an active state to a relaxed and meditative state. More info.

Heritage Spotlight: Clermont State Historic Site, Columbia County

Between 1730 and 1750, Robert Livingston Jr. built a grand brick and stone home on a hill alongside the Hudson River. Over the next 230 years, the house underwent many changes, including a nearly complete rebuilding after being burned by the British in 1777 by Margaret Beekman Livingston and a remodeling in the Colonial Revival style in the 1920s. The house, its contents, and grounds were given to the state in 1962. Today, the home appears as it did in the 1930s, with furnishings that reflect all three centuries of the Livingston family’s occupancy. Fine Empire period furniture is complemented by exquisite chandeliers, porcelain, and artwork. The surrounding grounds feature a walled garden, 1820s Lilac Walk, and a wilderness garden. Clermont’s trails feature some of the best bird-watching in the region. Learn more.

Project Spotlight: Concept Trail Plan for Champlain Canalway Trail from Wilbur Road Trailhead to the Sword Surrender Site

The Town of Saratoga in Saratoga County received a Conservancy Trail Grant for the development of a conceptual trail plan for a 6.75-mile section of trail primarily along the Old Champlain Canal and Towpath. The project provides a plan to connect 5 trail segments to create a continuous trail that serves as an off-road alternative to the Empire State Trail. It will also connect with a new boat launch on the Hudson River, which will become a designated Hudson River Greenway Water Trail site. The trail would also connect with a number of sites of historic significance including, the Saratoga Surrender Site, Schuyler House, Saratoga Monument, Restored Historic Dix Bridge, Marshall House, Gerald B. Solomon National Veterans Cemetery, and more. Learn more about the Town of Saratoga.

Go Big on Veggies and Sides This Thanksgiving

Eating less meat is one of the most impactful choices you can make to help reduce climate change and conserve natural habitats. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, about 200 million pounds of turkey meat are thrown out over the Thanksgiving holiday week every year. Learn more.

Grant and Funding Opportunities

Greenway Conservancy Trail Grant Program

This grant program is dedicated to funding recreational trail projects. Special consideration is given to projects that seek to implement the goals of the Greenway Trail Program. There is a new application for this program. Applicants should not use an older version. Applications are due November 4, 2022. More details.

Hudson River Valley Greenway Community Grant Program

Matching grants are available for Greenway Communities and Greenway Compact Communities. Deadline: November 4, 2022. More info.

Heritage Development Grants

This grant program offers funding for programming, interpretation, and marketing projects that support the mutual goals of the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area and applicants. Grants will typically range from $1,000 to $7,500. Grant program guidelines and applications are available on the HRVNHA's website. Please note that staff time is eligible to be reimbursed, but only if that staff time is for the direct development of programming or interpretation, as identified in the grant application. We will be accepting applications with a November 4, 2022 submittal deadline. There is a new application for this program. Applicants should not use an older version.

National Heritage Area Sponsorships Available

The Maurice D. Hinchey Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area (HRVNHA) will partner with various organizations to sponsor programs and events that reinforce the Heritage Area’s mission. While complimenting the mission of the Heritage Area, cultural, heritage, and recreational events deliver significant tourism and economic benefits to communities, and encourage local and regional partnerships. Municipalities and nonprofit 501(c)3 organizations located within the HRVNHA are eligible to apply. There is a new application and budget form that must be used and can be found on our website. For more information, please contact Dan Jeanson at daniel.jeanson@hudsongreenway.ny.gov or 518-473-3835.

African American Civil Rights Grant Opportunity

The program will document, interpret, and preserve sites and stories telling the full story of the long struggle for African American civil rights from the transatlantic slave trade onwards across two separate grant funding opportunities. The NPS 2008 report, Civil Rights in America, A Framework for Identifying Significant Sites, will serve as the reference document in determining the appropriateness of proposed projects and properties. Deadline: November 8, 2022. Find out more.

DHPSNY Planning & Assessment Services

Documentary Heritage and Preservation Services for New York (DHPSNY) offers Planning & Assessment Services in four major areas. These services are designed to support New York organizations in improving and advancing program efforts while forming strategies for future growth and development. DHPSNY’s Planning & Assessment Services consist of Archival Needs Assessments, Preservation Surveys, Condition Surveys, and Strategic Planning Assistance. In each instance, the services aim to improve adherence to best practices and are tailored to an organization’s unique circumstances. Deadline: November 11, 2022. Learn more.

Inspire! Grants for Small Museums

Inspire! Grants for Small Museums is a special initiative of the Museums for America program. It is designed to support small museums of all disciplines in project-based efforts to serve the public through exhibitions, educational/interpretive programs, digital learning resources, professional development, community debate and dialogue, audience-focused studies, and/or collections management, curation, care, and conservation. Deadline: November 15, 2022. More info.

2023 Brownfields Multipurpose, Assessment, Revolving Loan Fund, and Cleanup Grants

The EPA’s Brownfields Program provides grants and technical assistance to communities, states, tribes, and others to assess, safely clean up and sustainably reuse contaminated properties. Deadline: November 22, 2022. More details.

Capital District Transportation Committee (CDTC) Unified Planning Work Program

CDTC is calling for local and regional transportation planning initiatives for inclusion in CDTC’s 2023-2024 Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP). $1 Million in funding is available to cities, towns, villages, counties, and member organizations in CDTC’s metropolitan planning area. Applications from not-for-profits, neighborhood groups, and other organizations will be considered if the application is sponsored and submitted by at least one local government in the study area and involves the participation of others. Deadline: November 30, 2022. Read more.

Technical Assistance to Create Municipal Natural Resource Inventories

DEC’s Hudson River Estuary Program is offering a 2023 technical assistance opportunity for a team of two communities to create basic natural resource inventories. The joint project is intended to foster intermunicipal collaboration and increase efficiency in the creation of NRIs. A basic NRI will be produced for each of the two municipalities including a set of maps and descriptive report. Deadline: November 30, 2022. Learn more.

Community Planning Technical Assistance Program

Capital District Transportation Committee (CDTC) and the Capital District Regional Planning Commission (CDRPC) are seeking applications for the 2022 Community Planning Technical Assistance Program. The program offers CDTC and CDRPC staff time and expertise to local governments undertaking small-scale community planning initiatives. Only eligible for municipalities in Albany, Rensselaer, Schenectady, and Saratoga counties. Deadline: Rolling basis until December. Find out more.

Park & Trail Partnership Grants

The program is administered jointly by Parks & Trails New York and the NYS Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and is designed to:

1. Enhance the preservation, stewardship, interpretation, maintenance and promotion of New York State parks, trails, state historic sites and public lands.
2. Increase the sustainability, effectiveness, productivity, and volunteer and fundraising capabilities of not-for-profit organizations that promote, maintain, and support New York State parks, trails, state historic sites and public lands.
3. Promote the tourism and economic development benefits of outdoor recreation through the growth and expansion of a connected statewide network of parks, trails, greenways and public lands.

Learn more about Park & Trail Partnership Grants. Deadline: December 9, 2022.

U.S. Department of Transportation Thriving Communities Program 

This Program aims to ensure that disadvantaged communities adversely or disproportionately affected by environmental, climate, and human health policy outcomes have the technical tools and organizational capacity to compete for federal aid and deliver quality infrastructure projects that enable their communities and neighborhoods to thrive. Deadline: December 22, 2022. Find out more.

Flood Mitigation Assistance Grant

Flood Mitigation Assistance is a competitive grant program that provides funding to states, local communities, federally recognized tribes and territories. Funds can be used for projects that reduce or eliminate the risk of repetitive flood damage to buildings insured by the National Flood Insurance Program. Deadline: January 27, 2023. More details.

Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities

FEMA’s BRIC grant program gives states, local communities, tribes and territories funding to address future risks to natural disasters, including ones involving: wildfires, drought, hurricanes, earthquakes, extreme heat, and flooding. Addressing these risks helps make communities more resilient. In addition to providing funding, the BRIC program offers help to communities in the form non-financial Direct Technical Assistance that can provide holistic hazard mitigation planning and project support. Deadline: January 27, 2023. Find out more.

Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Grants Program

The Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership (ORLP) program was established in 2014 and is funded through the Land and Water Conservation Fund. ORLP is a nationally competitive program targeting grant assistance to help economically disadvantaged urban communities with no, or almost no, access to publicly available, close-by, outdoor recreation. Funds can be used for for the acquisition and/or development of, or to substantially renovate obsolete, public parks and other outdoor recreation spaces. Deadline: January 31, 2023. More info.

Mellon Planning Grants for Collaborative Digital Editions in African American, Asian American, Hispanic American, and Native American History and Ethnic Studies

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission of the National Archives supports projects that promote access to America's historical records to encourage understanding of our democracy, history, and culture. Draft Deadline April 1, 2023. Final Deadline: June 7, 2023. Read more.

Extreme Terrain’s Clean Trail Grant Program

This program will provide eligible groups the opportunity to apply for a grant to fund their next trail improvement-related project, which could range from trail clean-up, trail restoration, trail expansion, to name a few. Learn more.

New York State Assembly Grants Action News 

State, federal, and private grant information from the New York State Assembly. More info.