The Erie Canalway: A Special Resource Study of The New York State Canal System

National Park Service - Northeast Region

In 1992, the New York State Legislature enacted Thruway 2000 legislation that transferred responsibility for the canals from the state's Department of Transportation to the New York State Thruway Authority, renamed the canals the New York State Canal System, and established a Canal Recreationway Commission, a twenty-four member advisory council designed to work in partnership with the Authority to plan the canals' future. The legislation also established the New York State Canal Corporation as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Thruway Authority whose mandate is to operate, preserve, and renew the Canal System for recreation and economic development. The Thruway 2000 legislation also called for the development of a Canal-Recreationway Plan. This statewide plan, competed by the New York State Canal Recreationway Commission in the Fall of 1995, recommended exploring the possible federal designation of the system as a national heritage corridor or heritage area. The Interior Appropriation Act for Fiscal Year 1995 Public Law 103-332 directed the Park Service to prepare a special resource study evaluating th New York State Canal System for possible designation as a national heritage corridor. Although the state's entire congressional delegation supported the study, Congressman James T. Walsh (R-Syracuse, NY) and Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) were its primary advocates. In addition to this study, several heritage initiatives are underway across Upstate New York involving areas that overlap the canal system. The most active of these are the recently established Hudson river Valley National Heritage Corridor, and the Champlain Valley Heritage Corridor Project. Further, in December of 1996, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced a major upstate New York economic development program. Entitled the "Canal Corridor Initiative", the HUD program has made over $130 million directly available to local communities for canal corridor projects through a combination of grants and guaranteed loans. Over 50 communities within the canal corridor have been awarded grants of loans through the HUD initiative. Finally, four NPS units are near or immediately adjacent to the New York State Canal System. They included Saratoga National Historical Park (NHP) in Stillwater, Women's Rights NHP in Seneca Falls, Fort Stanwix National Monument (NM) in Rome, and Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site (NHS) in Buffalo. Because of their immediate proximity to canal resources, Saratoga NHP, Fort Stanwix NM, and Women's Rights NHP have been actively involved in local efforts related to the Canal Recreationway Plan.

The Erie Canalway: A Special Resource Study of The New York State Canal System

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