Resource Management - Online Catskill Exercise

     Read the information at the following web sites.  Then, please answer the questions that follow, using the information you got from the reading. The amount of writing I expect for each question follows the question. In answering your questions, be specific!

http://www.catskillpark.com/catskills.html

http://www.catskillcenter.org/ - From here, please link to the Catskill GIS Atlas and read the entire atlas page-by-page, starting with "Where/What are the Catskills?"  This site is full of excellent information about the region!  You may also want to look at the Fire Tower Project and "The Catskills: A Sense of Place" which would be especially good for teachers who want to use the Catskills as an example of how geography works.

http://www.catskillcenter.org/region.html - If time permits, you could take a "virtual hike" to one of the most popular destinations in the Catskills.

http://www.adk-nyc.org/Catskills/Access/home.htm - This page includes the "Catskill Forest Preserve Public Access Plan" which is a detailed plan of how access to the Catskills is due to be implemented. Read at least the section called "A Vision for the Catskill Forest Preserve." It gives a skeletal outline of some of the key issues in the Catskills.

http://www.adk-nyc.org/Catskills/Overlook/home.htm - This is the Overlook Mountain Wild Forest Unit Management Plan - Please read sections IA and IIIB.

http://www.catskillarchive.com/ - OPTIONAL - I would suggest reading a chapter from "In The Catskills" by John Burroughs.

Questions :

1. What is the Catskill Park and the Catskill Forest Preserve and approximately when and by whom were they created? (1/2 page)

2. Discuss any two important resource management issues being dealt with in the Catskills.  Is your brief impression that they are being handled well, or not so well? (1 page total)

3. In a management plan (like the Overlook Mountain Plan), the current method of deciding on a course of action is to list several alternatives and to list the agency's preference.  Is this a good method?  Why or why not?  Do you have any ideas about how it could be improved?  (1/2 page)

4. Do you think the idea of enclosing a combination of private and public lands within the Catskill Park boundaries is a good idea, or would the state be better to concentrate on its own properties only?  In other words, is it better to try to manage an entire region in an integrated way, or is it better to focus on limited areas that are easier to control and manage? (1/2 page)

Have Fun!!