Mountaintop Community Resource Strategy - Greene County Soil & Water Conservation District

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Enhancing Resource & Recreational Opportunities in the Great Northern Catskills

Project Overview

Hunter_Mountain_Foliage The Northern Catskills are a significant resource for recreational, cultural and scenic activities. For generations people have come to the “Mountaintop” to enjoy the great outdoors, ski, visit historic and cultural sites, and admire the idyllic scenery.

The Mountaintop Community Resource Strategy is a region-wide planning effort to develop a locally driven master plan that identifies resource enhancements, integration and protection of the resources that have attracted people to the area for generations. At the same time, the Strategy integrates the economic vitality of the small, rural mountaintop communities that rely on these resources to attract tourists to the area.

The Strategy covers the nine mountaintop municipalities located in Greene County — the Towns of Ashland, Jewett, Halcott, Hunter, Lexington, Prattsville, and Windham, and the Villages of Hunter and Tannersville. A comprehensive inventory of historical, recreational, recreation business retail, arts and cultural, & scenic resources was conducted and built into the Strategy’s development.

The Strategy was developed under the guidance of a Project Advisory Team and small focus groups that were organized to identify concerns and opportunities for resource enhancement and integration.

In order to keep up with changing economic times that influence the tourism market, it is important for the Mountaintop communities to work together to assess current resource attractions, identify where improvements are needed, develop a plan to address those needs, and begin implementing actions for the betterment of the Mountaintop as a whole. The Mountaintop Community Resource Strategy is the culmination of such a collaborative effort. The Strategy provides a foundation for the communities to work individually and collectively on solutions to enhance the region’s outdoor recreational, historical and cultural resources, and to advance approaches to market the local tourism economy.