User:Antepenultimate/NYSP

Continuing Project: Improving New York State Parks articles
Seems I've been spending a bit of time bringing the articles for many New York state parks up to a minimum standard. There seems no shortage of basic work to be done on many of these articles. Mostly I attempt to:


 * Improve article structure
 * Add an infobox with a map
 * Locate, upload and add an appropriate free image (if one exists)
 * Clean up the prose, remove promotional language
 * Add basic references

I would say Whetstone Gulf State Park serves as a pretty good example of what many of these articles look like before and after.

I'm also hoping that one day, there will be no redlinks or redirects in the State Parks section of the Protected Areas of New York template, but who knows when I'll get around to that. It would also be nice to fix up the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation page, which is quite sparse at the moment.

Improving List of New York state parks
The List of Pennsylvania state parks and its map template (State parks of Pennsylvania map) would be nice to emulate if I ever have a spare year.

After some much-needed prodding (not that kind), I've started to play around with some table formats for the main NYSP list article at my NYSP list sandbox... which was finally moved to the mainspace on April 13, 2016! Still more to do there, but this is a big leap forward.

A list of what I've done so far:
• #Allan H. Treman State Marine Park

• #Amherst State Park

• #Amsterdam Beach State Park

• #Battle Island State Park

• #Bayard Cutting Arboretum State Park

• #Bayswater Point State Park

• #Beechwood State Park (Created)

• #Belmont Lake State Park

• #Betty and Wilbur Davis State Park

• #Big Six Mile Creek Marina

• #Blauvelt State Park

• #Bowman Lake State Park

• #Bonavista State Park Golf Course

• #Brentwood State Park (Created)

• #Bristol Beach State Park

• #Buckhorn Island State Park

• #Buffalo Harbor State Park (Created)

• #Burnham Point State Park

• #Buttermilk Falls State Park

• #Camp Hero State Park

• #Canandaigua Lake State Marine Park (Created)

• #Canoe-Picnic Point State Park

• #Captree State Park

• #Catharine Valley Trail

• #Caumsett State Historic Park Preserve

• #Cayuga Lake State Park

• #Cedar Island State Park

• #Cedar Point State Park‎‎

• #Chenango Valley State Park

• #Cherry Plain State Park

• #Chimney Bluffs State Park

• #Chittenango Falls State Park

• #Clarence Fahnestock State Park

• #Clay Pit Ponds State Park Preserve

• #Cold Spring Harbor State Park

• #Coles Creek State Park

• #Conesus Lake Boat Launch

• #Connetquot River State Park Preserve

• #Crab Island State Park

• #Croil Island State Park (Created)

• #Cumberland Bay State Park

• #Darien Lakes State Park

• #De Veaux Woods State Park

• #Delta Lake State Park

• #Devil's Hole State Park

• #Dewolf Point State Park

• #Donald J. Trump State Park

• #Earl W. Brydges Artpark State Park

• #Eel Weir State Park

• #Evangola State Park

• #Fair Haven Beach State Park

• #Fillmore Glen State Park

• #Fort Niagara State Park‎‎

• #Four Mile Creek State Park

• #Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park

• #Franny Reese State Park (Created)

• #Frenchman Island (Created - No longer a State Park)

• #Galop Island State Park (Created)

• #Gilgo State Park

• #Glimmerglass State Park

• #Golden Hill State Park

• #Goosepond Mountain State Park

• #Grafton Lakes State Park

• #Grass Point State Park

• #Hallock State Park Preserve (Created)

• #Hamlin Beach State Park

• #Harriet Hollister Spencer State Recreation Area

• #Haverstraw Beach State Park (Created)

• #Heckscher State Park

• #Helen L. McNitt State Park (Created)

• #Hempstead Lake State Park

• #Highland Lakes State Park

• #High Tor State Park

• #Higley Flow State Park

• #Hither Hills State Park

• #Hook Mountain State Park (Created)

• #Hudson River Islands State Park

• #Hunts Pond State Park

• #Iona Island State Park

• #Irondequoit Bay State Marine Park

• #Jacques Cartier State Park

• #James Baird State Park

• #Jones Beach State Park

• #Joseph Davis State Park

• #Keewaydin State Park

• #Keuka Lake State Park

• #Knox Farm State Park

• #Kring Point State Park

• #Lake Erie State Park

• #Lake Superior State Park

• #Lake Taghkanic State Park

• #Lakeside Beach State Park

• #Lodi Point State Park

• #Long Point State Park – Finger Lakes

• #Long Point State Park – Thousand Islands

• #Long Point State Park on Lake Chautauqua

• #Macomb Reservation State Park

• #Mark Twain State Park

• #Margaret Lewis Norrie State Park

• #Mary Island State Park

• #Max V. Shaul State Park

• #Mexico Point State Park (Created)

• #Mine Kill State Park

• #Mohawk River State Park (Created)

• #Montauk Point State Park

• #Napeague State Park

• #Nissequogue River State Park

• #Nyack Beach State Park

• #Oak Orchard State Marine Park

• #Oquaga Creek State Park

• #Orient Beach State Park

• #Peebles Island State Park

• #Pinnacle State Park and Golf Course

• #Pixley Falls State Park

• #Point Au Roche State Park

• #Reservoir State Park

• #Robert G. Wehle State Park (Created)

• #Robert H. Treman State Park

• #Robert Moses State Park (Long Island)

• #Robert Moses State Park (Thousand Islands)

• #Robert V. Riddell State Park (Created)

• #Roberto Clemente State Park

• #Rock Island Lighthouse State Park

• #Rockland Lake State Park

• #Sampson State Park

• #Schodack Island State Park

• #Selkirk Shores State Park

• #Seneca Lake State Park

• #Shadmoor State Park

• #St. Lawrence State Park Golf Course

• #Sterling Forest State Park

• #Storm King State Park

• #Strawberry Island State Park (Created)

• #Sunken Meadow State Park

• #Tallman Mountain State Park

• #Taughannock Falls State Park

• #Thompson's Lake State Park

• #Trail View State Park

• #Verona Beach State Park

• #Waterson Point State Park

• #Wellesley Island State Park

• #Westcott Beach State Park

• #Whetstone Gulf State Park

• #Whirlpool State Park

• #Wonder Lake State Park

• #Woodlawn Beach State Park

To do

 * Taconic State Park merger - proposed November 14, 2016


 * Hart's Brook Nature Preserve
 * Lake Lauderdale State Park
 * Lock 32 State Canal Park
 * Schunnemunk State Park create section at Schunnemunk Mountain?
 * New York State Parks: Schunnemunk State Park
 * NYNJTC
 * 2001 Open Space Plan: "The State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has acquired the majestic Schunnemunk Mountain in the Orange County towns of Cornwall, Woodbury and Blooming Grove from the Open Space Institute using funds from the State Environmental Protection Fund. The 2,458-acre property, known as Schunnemunk Mountain State Park, is an incredible new State Park that expands recreational opportunities in the Hudson Highlands and continues efforts to protect the best of our outdoor heritage, providing New Yorkers with the enjoyment of this mountain's extensive network of hiking trails, scenic overlooks, and natural beauty. The land will be managed by the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP)."
 * New York State Open Space Conservation Plan & Generic Environmental Impact Statement, 2006: "Schunnemunk Mountain which was acquired in 2004 was New York’s 163rdState Park. Located in the Orange County towns of Cornwall, Woodbury and Blooming Grove, the 2,466 acre property is nearly 1,700 feet in elevation and extends more than 8 miles. The mountain is covered by deciduous hardwoods, scrub and pitch pine, an understory of blueberry and large stands of mountain laurel. OSI assisted in the acquisition of the site. Another 144 acres was gifted to enlarge the park to 2,610 acres."
 * Friends group announcement
 * WAMC, easement link to Storm King State Park
 * OSI 2010
 * OSI 2013
 * PPC, start date, brief history
 * NYSP/Governor, 2001 plans to acquire park
 * Two Rivers State Park Recreation Area

Boat launches (low priority)

 * Athens Boat Launch
 * Black Lake Boat Launch
 * Chaumont Boat Launch
 * Coxsackie Boat Launch
 * Deans Cove Boat Launch
 * Great Chazy Boat Launch
 * Hudson Boat Launch
 * Point Au Roche Boat Launch
 * Saratoga Lake State Boat Launch
 * Wilson Hill Boat Launch

Research
Massapequa State Park, a former state park in Nassau County
 * Mentioned on p. 21 of Fifty Years: New York State Parks, 1924-1974 as being acquired ~1924.
 * Map showing Massapequa State Park, 1929, same location as Massapequa Preserve
 * Engineering/boundary report, claims mixed state/county ownership
 * Massapequa Reservoir
 * DEC page, notes former state ownership
 * Peter J. Schmitt Massapequa Preserve aka Massapequa Preserve
 * Nassau County page
 * Newsday renaming article, mentions Nassau county acquired the land in 1981
 * Town of Oyster Bay Final Massapequa Creek Watershed Management and Corridor Restoration Plan

Start date checks, per 50years, ~p10:
 * Clark Reservation in 1915 (originally placed under the care of the New York State Museum due to the geologic importance of the site.
 * Saratoga Spa State Park in 1909 as a reservation

Basking in the accolades
Holy smokes, somebody noticed! I tend to prefer working on unpopular articles, so this is a rare event indeed...

And another! The improbability of it all boggles the (in fact, easily tired) mind.

Useful references and links

 * 1950 State Park Acreages


 * The New York State Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan and Generic Environmental Impact Statement 2014-2019


 * The New York State Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan and Generic Environmental Impact Statement 2009-2013


 * New York State Park Annual Attendance


 * NYSOPRHP Public Documents


 * NYSOPRHP Master Plans


 * State Park Acquisition Record and Document Review Will be useful for Higley Flow State Park, Macomb Reservation State Park, and Saratoga Spa State Park.


 * Overview of 2010 park closures


 * A single preview page of a NY Encyclopedia, including start dates and acreages for some parks


 * NYS Preservationist article about the early history of Selkirk Shores State Park, Green Lakes State Park, Clark Reservation State Park, Gilbert Lake State Park, Chittenango Falls State Park, and Chenango Valley State Park.


 * Listing of parks and historic sites as of 2015, per the New York State Assembly


 * Another listing, categorized, within the NYSOPRHP 'unofficial rules'


 * Environmental Documentary Sources in New York State


 * Archived NYSP press releases


 * Archived Governor's press releases


 * Archived Palisades Park Conservancy, more information than current page


 * Annual Reports of the Conservation Commission, 1911 - 1921


 * New York State Parks and Reservations, Conservation Commission Recreational Circular No. 1, 1919


 * The State Park Plan for New York, Revised to Show Progress to Date, with Proposal for the New Park Bond Issue, Committee on State Park Plan, New York State Association, 1924
 * Org chart of existing parks (1924)
 * 1923 edition