Tag Archives: achievements

Visitor Experiences

24 Friday Feb 2023

Posted by in Bringing Tourists to the Byway, Marketing and Promotion, Mohawk Towpath, Telling the Byway Stories, tourism experience, Uncategorized

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Our number one, top priority within the Mohawk Towpath National Scenic Byway corridor is to provide a positive visitor experience, period.

But how do we measure or quantify our successes? The designated route is along public roads that are open 24/7/365! Most of our historic features are along public highways or in, or along side the right-of-way. One such measure would be the number of hits on our website. That’s a start, but that’s only the visitors to our website. Intuitively visits to our website would reflect early curiosity or the number of people searching for a unique experience, not physical visits to the Byway. When we first set up the Byway’s website one of the concerns was that if we included too much information, too many pictures that would provide the whole experience and no one would try the real, authentic, visit.

I disagree. The more we can provide pictures of people enjoying the Byway and its many features the more we inspire the public to gain their own experience by physically visiting the Byway. My feeling is that use of our cell phone based self-guided tour is one of the best metrics of Byway visitation and experience.

Gathering information on visitors, not personal information, but number of calls to the self-guided tour are most helpful. Also the number of brochures that are picked up at various Byway locations are revealing.

Data provided by OnCell Systems, now STQRY.

The above data shows that visits almost doubled during the pandemic. People, including you and I, needed to get out of the house, but go where they were not exposed to others. A drive on the Mohawk Towpath Byway or visit one of our parks or historic sites was the perfect answer. Recent numbers are back, but not down to pre-COVID numbers. Perhaps return visits to the Byway and a greater digital marketing effort are definitely playing a role.

Also note that visitors don’t spend a lot of time on the page or listening to the entire narrative. If it is longer than 2 minutes they are gone to the next or are otherwise distracted.

For those of you who have used the self-guided tour service before, we will be adding new sites, new STOPs this spring along Erie Blvd. in Schenectady and in downtown Cohoes.

Invasive Species

21 Saturday May 2022

Posted by in Nature along the Byway, stewardship, Volunteering

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Over crowded vegetation has become a problem around the main entrance to the Vischer Ferry Nature and Historic Preserve. It is so thick that observation of the open marsh lands is impossible: impossible to see and even more challenging to interpret. The first stop on the Byway’s self-guided birding trail is engulfed in a “jungle” of vines held up by a mass of sufficated dead trees and brush.

In this “before” Jeff Slater and Paul Olund stand near a mass of foliage with the main “old town road” trail seen behind them on the left. This is just south of the Whipple Bridge. The yellow survey tape is meant to mark the area where a number of invasive species including Asian bittersweet, multi floral rose, and honeysuckle have taken over. An occasional grape vine adds to the interwoven and braided mass. The red peaking through the foliage to the right is a chain link fence gate post that was historically closed during flood conditions. This is a “before” picture.

After about three hours of work with pruning shears, garden racks, machete, bow saws, and other hand tools five of us were able to open up a twenty foot wide panorama around STOP 31. Some of the work was on hands and knees, even on our butts!

This is intended as a demonstration project. No attempt was made to prevent regrowth. Continued cutting is anticipated to keep this area open. Our experience here will factor into the stewardship chapter in the Corridor Management Plan. It is obvious that we will not prevent continued spread of these invasives, but perhaps we can better understand the dynamics of their growth and ways to control their spread. The crew includes Jeff Slater, Mary MacDonald, Nancy Papish, Eric Hamilton, and Paul Olund captured this image.

And a special thanks to Nancy Papish who remembered water. The building heat even on an early spring day was oppressive.

UPDATE JUL 2:

I brought a weedwacker to the site and mowed over the regrowth of bittersweet. I also noticed some emergent fern, thistle, and a couple of burdock shoots. I think the idea of over-seeding with native wildflower species after future spring cut-back is a good one.

Before
After

I spent the better part of an hour in the stand of Japanese Knotweed hacking out a sixty square foot area and generated over 50 pounds of debris. I will dispose of this in the garbage. If we are going to make a dent in this we have to attack it earlier in the season with repeated cuttings (try on a monthly basis?) during the growing season.

Byway Achievements

18 Tuesday Dec 2018

Posted by in Nature along the Byway, recreational assets, Volunteering

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A discussion around the table at the annual meeting of the Friends of the Mohawk Towpath Byway came up with surprising results.  The question was, “What were the greatest achievements on the Byway this year?”

HolidaySwag

First up, Ruth related the story that at the Duathlon registration when her husband met an individual recovering from a similar medical condition as his.  “The two of them are helping each other through recovery.”

Paul said, “I became more familiar with the features within the Vischer Ferry Nature and Historic Preserve.”  He also added that fellow volunteer Chris had used a personal GPS devise to map trails in the Preserve and proceeded to color blaze the individual trails to match the mapping.

 “Volunteers Chris and Joanne have painted a mural on the other side of the Whipple bridge aerial photo,” added Sue. “Their mural names and color codes the trails. Additionally Chris created directional signs at entrances to the nature preserve and at trail intersections complete with trail names and distances. Most of the trails have color coded discs on trees.”

Eric is proud of the Story Telling Summit that the Friends of the Byway helped host in late spring.  We had folks attend from as far away as the mid west U S. It was the consensus around the table that we should do something similar next year.

Mary reported that she had given a tour of the Byway to a group of 7 or 8 hikers.  They all enjoyed the experience and hope to repeat it, perhaps in another area of the Byway.

Nancy shared a story that as she and Tracy were marshaling participants at the Duathlon, Tracy pointed out a coyote crossing a distant field.  Nancy continued her post, but later saw the coyote return across the ridge.

Maryanne shared a story of a visit to a historic building and had paused at the top of the stairs.  While she was there she felt a push toward the stairs as if  by a mischievous child, but no one was around.  That story was added to the folklore of the historic property which had, at one time, housed an orphanage.

Lara successfully completed the Duathlon, and has always been impressed by the enthusiasm of the volunteers who host the event.  She is looking forward to competing again next year.

During Farm Fest weekend Larry helped a visitor discover nearby Clutes Dry Dock by accessing the Byway tour on the visitor’s cell phone.  The visitor was compelled to check out other features along the Byway corridor during the weekend.  The self guided tour feature makes it easy to discover the Byway at your own pace and on your own time.

These individual observations illustrate the diverse interests on the Byway and the collection of resources that make the Mohawk Towpath Byway such a unique place to live, to visit and to share with the outside world.  What stands out in your mind as a special resource along the waterway west?