State Parks unveils plans for education center, boardwalk at Green Lakes

By Hayleigh Gowans

Staff Writer

Rose Harvey, New York State Parks Commissioner, recently announced plans to build an educational center and boardwalk near the lake at Green Lakes State Park. (Hayleigh Gowans)

Millions of dollars in improvement projects are now completed at Green Lakes State Park, and plans to add a boardwalk and environmental educational center next to the lake are coming next, New York State Parks Commissioner Rose Harvey announced this week.

At a May 31 press conference at the newly-renovated Green Lakes State Park golf course clubhouse, Harvey unveiled the completion of $9 million in park improvements — which she initially announced in June 2015 — which included interior and exterior improvements to the golf clubhouse, renovations of restrooms within the park, the construction of comfort stations and the addition and upgrade of campsites at the Pine Woods camping area.

Upgrades to the campsites at Pine Woods include building larger campsites to accommodate RVs, and the addition of electric, water and sewer connections to campsites, said Harvey. The upgrades to the entrance stations of the park added automated entry lane providing visitors with the option to pay with a card, as well as replacing the ticket booth with a modern workspace for the entrance attendant and security.

These improvements have already been made, said Harvey, but a $6 million project to move the 1940s boat house further from the lake and renovate it, and to add a boardwalk and environmental education center is in the works. In partnership with SUNY ESF, the park will create interactive educational displays relating to Green Lakes and the surrounding area.

The educational center will include new indoor classroom/multipurpose space, a kitchenette and restrooms, as well as an outdoor classroom, a lakefront boardwalk and canoe/kayak landing, new boat rental booth and storage racks and a fishing pier. The project is supported by a $500,000 grant from the Central Regional Economic Development Council and a fundraising campaign will also be undertaken to raise additional funds for this project, said Harvey.

Another artistic rendering of the education center. (Courtesy New York State Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation Press Office)

Green Lakes is the most visited New York State Park in Central New York with more than 800,000 visitors per year, said Harvey, and improvements to the park will attract even more visitors.

“Green Lakes State Park — boy does that meet the term of a flagship and also a park that serves everybody,” said Harvey. “While we’re going to build better connection to nature, we’re going to strengthen our minds and our muscles, strengthen our families by being together here … We’re also going to contribute mightily to the local and regional economies.”

The educational center will allow for students from Title 1 schools to be bussed to Green Lakes for free to learn and participate in programming at the park, said Harvey.

“This has been a great partnership between Fayetteville and Green Lakes. You think about community, quality of life, education, opportunities for our youths. No other community has a park like Fayetteville does,” said Fayetteville Mayor Mark Olson.

These projects are being made possible with funds from the NY Parks 2020 initiative, started by Governor Andrew Cuomo to revitalize and encourage attendance at state parks and historic sites throughout New York. Funding for this effort has been sourced from a broad range of private and public entities to invest about $900 million in parks from 2011 to 2020. The 2018 Executive Budget allocated $120 million toward this initiative.