The Citywide Trails Team Formalized over 250 Miles of Nature Trails in NYC!
By Natural Areas Conservancy on June 07, 2025
By Elizabeth Jaeger, Deputy Director, Public Programs & Operations
On National Trails Day, folks around the country will be celebrating by enjoying and stewarding their favorite trails! The Natural Areas Conservancy is also celebrating the completion of an official network of 250 miles of trails in NYC. Trails that take you to the oldest living organism in New York City (the Alley Pond Giant), the caves where the Lenape used to live in what is now Inwood Hill, or to the shores of Jamaica Bay to watch some of the best bird watching on the East Coast in Marine Park.
This has been a long time coming—almost a decade of work, by a very small team at the NAC and NYC Parks. The NAC started working closely with NYC Parks in 2017 to chip away at trail improvement projects, beginning in Bronx Park, with one trail crew member. It was a little step towards a big vision. In the years that followed, the demand and interest for the work grew, and in 2020, the NAC created the first ever Strategic Trails Plan for New York City. There was a lot of talk about it not being a great year to release a monumental vision for the future of NYC, but in many ways it was. The pandemic showed us that New Yorkers were hungry for places to go outside and connect with their communities, their friends, and themselves.
The plan included dozens of recommendations for how to create a world-class trail system in New York City. These included better wayfinding and signage so people can navigate the trails safely and confidently; increasing accessibility for New Yorkers of all abilities to enjoy nature trails; a campaign to promote the existence of these spaces to the many New Yorkers who are unaware of their existence; and more funding from the City of New York.
Nearly 5 years later, we will have completed 250 miles of official trail, installed over 10,000 blazes to aid in wayfinding, built hundreds of structures to increase the accessibility of the trails, and just released a public service announcement campaign in community centers and LinkNYC screens across the city to help people find their way to these trails.
But one goal that has not been realized is an investment from the City to care for these spaces. We came close though.
On Earth Day 2023, Mayor Adams stood next to us and our NYC Parks colleagues at Alley Pond Park and announced to the press that he was providing baseline funding that would create dozens of jobs to have a citywide crew in every borough caring for and programming our city’s trails. It was a thrilling day. One of those days that makes you feel like a big ambitious vision really can become a reality. A few months later, and out of the view of cameras, that funding was revoked during the budget cuts of 2023. We were devastated. It meant that dozens of New Yorkers being interviewed for jobs were told those jobs are no longer available. It meant that we had to find a way to care for 250 miles of trails with only three full-time staffers. While not perfect, and not at the scale we hoped for, we pressed on.
These 250 miles of rustic, forested trails are cared for every day by a very small, but very passionate and experienced group of trail professionals at NAC and NYC Parks, and a cadre of 150 committed, invested residents who dedicate their free time to caring for their adopted trails. It’s a lot of effort, but it’s not enough. We need actual investment from the City of New York to add more staff and resources to make this system the world-class trail network that we know it can be.
What can you do this National Trails Day?
- Get out and enjoy the trails. We and our Parks colleagues are frequently hosting events all over the city, so please consider joining one to meet us and others that are into nature and playing outside (yes, grown ups can play, too). Not sure where to start? Check out our list of our favorite trails in each borough.
- Adopt a trail. Either on your own or with friends, colleagues, or your family, you can become a Pathkeeper to help support these trails being safe and accessible for all New Yorkers.
- Contact your council member and advocate for baselining funds to create trail crews in every borough of NYC.
- Donate to the NAC. No contribution is too small to help us move the needle on caring for the trails that give us access to so much beauty and respite in New York City.
