Regional Players on Your Waterfront: Palisades Interstate Park Commission - 2 May, 2005

In a region long divided by political geography, there exist a number of public agencies and entities seeking to improve the overall quality of life in our area. Some entities, such as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, are widely recognized, and others, such as the Interstate Environmental Commission, are rather little known. What each of these organizations share is a unique history, and continuing mandate to ensure that interests on both sides of the Hudson and Harbor are supported and strengthened. Simply put, you can’t clean up or reclaim half of a harbor. Despite the political divisions and perceptual differences between the two states of New Jersey and New York, or New York City (considered variably as the “keystone” or perhaps the “elephant in the room”) the reality is that we are, for better or worse, one region--connected inextricably by our waterways.

With the center of political gravity in our nation gradually shifting south and west, it is becoming more and more apparent that we will all be better served if our Agencies and elected officials from both states will work more collaboratively on a regional waterfront agenda. To better understand the available tools at hand, MWA and Waterwire bring you this series “Half A Harbor:Regional Players on Your Waterfront.” This weeks’s feature: Palisades Interstate Park Commission

Posted April 28, 2005

The Palisades Interstate Park Commission (PIPC) is a bi-state organization overseeing public lands in New York and New Jersey that together comprise the Palisades park system. “The Palisades” refers to the riverside cliffs on the western bank of the Hudson River just north of Manhattan. Quarry operations in the late 19th Century provoked public outcry against destruction of this area of natural beauty. Governors Theodore Roosevelt of New York and Foster Voorhees of New Jersey joined the cause, and in 1900 the two state legislatures created PIPC. The interstate agreement was forged in an effort to preserve the natural landscape of the Palisades region for future generations, and the commission set about acquiring land along the river for public parks.

In 1937 the US Congress authorized a federal charter to merge the two state creations into one entity. The Commission is made up of ten commissioners, five appointed by each Governor, who serve staggered five-year terms. The organization’s stewardship mission has been expanded beyond the cliffs to a larger area of land along the Hudson River and westward around the New Jersey and New York border. The Palisades park system now includes twenty-four parks and eight historic sites, covering over 100,000 acres in eight counties (Bergen, Passaic, Morris, and Warren in New Jersey, and Rockland, Orange, Sullivan, and Webster in New York.). The park system has a wide variety of recreational facilities, museums, and nature centers, and hosts nine million visitors a year. Parklands stretch for over twenty miles along the western banks of the Hudson River, with multiple sites for public access to the waterfront and several boat docks.

Plans to build a major roadway for improved access to the Palisades parklands were debated for many years before construction was begun in 1947 under the leadership of Robert Moses. The Palisades Interstate Parkway was opened in phases, with the final section completed in 1958. The parkway included wide swaths of natural landscape along the roads, as well as rustic-style overpasses and other design elements that have remained largely intact throughout the years. The roadway was designated a national historic landmark in 1998. The Parkway is part of the Palisades system overseen by PIPC, but is maintained jointly by the New Jersey and New York Departments of Transportation.

Much of the Palisades parklands has been acquired through private donations of property and funds, and the commission works closely with the Friends of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, a nonprofit incorporated in 2002 specifically to help fund and promote PIPC’s stewardship of the Palisades region. PIPC also works in cooperation with the state parks departments in New York and New JerseyNew Jersey, who manage and staff some of the public facilities. PIPC is funded through private donations, state and federal government sources, and leases on its parkway properties and Bear Mountain Inn. Government allocations have diminished significantly over the years though, and the Palisades parks and historic sites have a backlog of over $25 million in capital projects and rehabilitations. The Friends of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission is currently focusing fundraising efforts on a variety of projects: restoration of Bear Mountain Inn, new exhibits for the Fort Lee Historic Park, rehabilitation of the Trailside Zoo, the Group Camping Program, and the Sterling Forest environmental research program.

Posted March 17 by Laura Stockstill and Carter Craft

BACK