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Boy Scout, Volunteers To Add Five Trails To Lewisboro Preserve

LEWISBORO, N.Y. – Volunteers, including one Boy Scout who plans to use the project to earn the rank of Eagle Scout, will start building about two miles of new hiking trails at Leon Levy Preserve this year.

The Leon Levy Preservie is 383 acres and features wetlands rich in wildlife.

The Leon Levy Preservie is 383 acres and features wetlands rich in wildlife.

Photo Credit: Town of Lewisboro
The Westchester Land Trust and the Town of Lewisboro bought the Leon Levy Preserve in 2005.

The Westchester Land Trust and the Town of Lewisboro bought the Leon Levy Preserve in 2005.

Photo Credit: Town of Lewisboro

Alex Wagner, of Troop 154 in Goldens Bridge, will build the green trail on the north-west portion of the preserve, which will add an access point on Ridgefield Avenue between Cross Pond Road and Route 35. It will connect with the existing yellow trail and the purple trail extension.

There is currently a dead-end purple trail, which will be extended a half mile along the western portion of the preserve by other volunteers.

Like the green trail, the blue trail will offer a new entry point to the preserve at Route 35 about halfway between Smith Ridge Road and Ridgefield Avenue. The .2 mile-long trail will also connect with the existing yellow trail near the Black Mansion. It is primarily a horse trail, but can also be used by hikers.

“Five trails sound like an awful lot. But three of them make existing trails more useful by completing things,” Town Supervisor Peter Parsons said.

The Lewisboro Town Board approved the construction of the new trails at its meeting Monday.

Parsons said these additions will further open up the preserve and some of its hidden gems, such as the Gorge Overlook, which will be turned into an observation area with a bench near the mountain laurels. A .25-mile loop trail will be created, but residents have used part of this area as an informal path for decades, according to the town.

“The more people that use the preserve the more valuable it becomes. That’s what I believe,” he said.

The fifth trail, the Pink Trail, would be .1 miles long and found south of the Black Mansion ruins.

Like Wagner, Robert King of Boy Scout Troop 101 in Goldens Bridge will work toward becoming an Eagle Scout by revamping a long-neglected trail on the Onatru Farm on Elmwood Road.

“We must have more eagle scouts per capita than any other place in the world,” Parsons said.

The town supervisor said many Boy Scouts have worked with the town on their Eagle Scout projects.  

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