People are often encouraged to “forge their own paths.”

That’s commendable when it comes to forging a career path or a path of personal self discovery, but not so much when it comes to forging actual new paths through sensitive environmental areas.

People seeking the challenge and solitude of the wilderness experience by tramping through informal trails risk exposing those areas to erosion and flooding, as well as causing damage to flora and intruding on areas that may be home to rare, threatened or endangered animal species.

The Catskill high peaks area is scarred with an extensive network of informal trail networks.

To ensure that those formerly trailess areas........

© The Leader Herald