Greene County speakers urge management, not visitor caps, in response to DEC study

Public comment at a Greene County legislative meeting centered on opposition to a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) visitor‑use management study that recommends limiting daily visitors and parking in parts of the Catskill Park.

Sean Mahoney, a county speaker who identified himself during the meeting, asked the Legislature to press back and to solicit public comment. “We were asking for management not limited,” Mahoney said, arguing the county needs more rangers and operations staff rather than blanket caps. He also supported drafting an immediate resolution and a wider outreach campaign to encourage residents to comment to the DEC before the June 1 deadline.

A public commenter who identified as a local resident and community leader told the Legislature the consultant’s approach is “an easy way out” that would amount to restricting access rather than managing it. “This is a machete when we needed a scalping,” the commenter said, urging the Legislature to pass a resolution in opposition and to coordinate other towns to do the same.

Local business owners and managers at the meeting framed the issue as an economic as well as operational one. Ryan Penny, owner of Camp Haskell, said management solutions that funnel visitors through town infrastructure and local businesses would be preferable to fixed visitor quotas that could reduce year‑round commerce.

Speakers repeatedly called for modest, operational changes—such as more forest rangers, better parking management and targeted operations staff at high‑use access points—rather than the travel‑caps and reservation systems described in parts of the consultant report. The DEC consultant’s document cited in the discussion proposed limits including a numeric cap (examples discussed by speakers included 1,000 visitors per day) and more restrictive parking rules; speakers said those examples would not reflect their community’s capacity or needs.

The Legislature did not adopt a formal final resolution on the floor at the time of the public comment, but members asked staff to prepare a draft and pursue a coordinated public outreach effort. Officials and speakers advised residents to submit comments directly through the DEC process ahead of the June 1 deadline and to watch for a county‑issued call‑to‑action and draft resolution.