Andy Beers

AGE: 62
FAMILY: Wife, Elizabeth, daughter Althea, 24, and son August, 27
RESIDENCE: Schodack, Rensselaer County
PROFESSION: Parks, trails and conservation development for The Nature Conservancy for 17 years, then 15 years for New York State
SPORTS: Cycling, hiking, and canoeing in the Adirondacks, cross-country and downhill skiing, snowshoeing, and fishing

Andy Beers’ greatest athletics victory was won on a field that’s 750 miles long. Andy, 62, has always had what he calls an “outdoor family,’ hiking and canoeing in the Adirondacks with his wife and two children and living an active lifestyle. He is a Capital Region native who grew up in Delmar.

After graduating from Colgate University, he earned his master’s degree in natural resources from Cornell University, and worked for The Nature Conservancy in a variety of roles until 2006. Then he moved over to the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation as Executive Deputy Commissioner until 2017.

But his biggest athletic challenge has turned out to be as a manager, leading his team from the Hudson River Valley Greenway agency that created the Empire State Trail. Completed in 2020, the multiuse trail now stretches 750 miles from New York City north to the Canadian border and west from Albany to Buffalo. 

The project was announced by Governor Andrew Cuomo in his State of the State address in January 2017. At a cost of $200 million, it’s an investment in parks infrastructure that’s unprecedented in state history, and the single largest state investment in the nation in multiuse trails. The project also leveraged an additional $97 million from various federal, state, local, and private sources that added up to a total program cost of nearly $300 million. That support included the New York State Canal Corporation, which already administrated 365 miles of the 750-mile total route.

When he was first asked in 2017 to lead the team, Andy says his first thought was “This is a really unique opportunity. Our state system of rail trails and canalway trails has been growing dramatically, but realizing we now had a chance to stitch them together was fantastic.”

Funding was the first and biggest challenge, Andy says. He and other staff from the Greenway and State Parks compiled estimates of how much was needed to construct over 180 miles of new trail, update existing portions, and complete construction on projects that would include new bridges, tunnels, and historic and cultural exhibits involving cooperation from multiple federal, local, and state agencies. He had managed capital projects before in his career with NYS Parks, but the Empire State Trail was on a larger level than anything he had ever tackled in the past.

Luckily, the team had a head start, drawing upon the Greenway’s analysis of potential trail routes in the Hudson Valley, and collaborating with the non-profit Parks & Trails New York to incorporate information from their 20-year “Closing the Gaps” campaign for the Erie Canalway Trail. During the previous 30 years, trails had already been built that covered 80% of the distance from Albany west to Buffalo, and 50% of the way from New York City to Albany and Whitehall on the south end of Lake Champlain.

In the end, they identified 58 different projects across the state that would have to be completed to close the gaps. The smallest only required several hundred yards of new trail. The largest involved the entirely new 36-mile Albany-Hudson Electric Trail that today follows an historic trolley line from the city of Rensselaer south to the city of Hudson. There were also bridges to be built and tunnels to be dug under existing rail lines and other obstacles.

With a long to-do list in hand, they received the $200 million in funding with a four-year deadline to finish the trail by the end of 2020. It would be a big challenge in normal circumstances but building it during a pandemic made the task even tougher. Aside from dealing with pandemic produced delays and supply chain challenges, plus collaborating with dozens of other state and local agencies, Andy served as the on-site project manager for the Albany-Hudson Electric Trail. Other specific projects across the state had their own project managers.

There were many issues to deal with that eventual trail users never hear about, he explains, using the Electric Trail as an example. The 36-mile Electric Trail segment alone passes through one city, three villages, eight towns, and two counties, requiring engagement with a total of 14 different municipalities. Every local road, town road, state highway (including the NYS Thruway), railroad, stream, or wetland that was crossed required engineering development to strict specifications, plus permissions from cities, towns, private landowners, the NYS DEC, NYS DOT, US Army Corps of Engineers, or other agencies.

Andy attended 35 different public meetings at town halls, high schools, and historical societies along the trail route to explain how they would complete the project and integrate it into the communities. He also personally met on site with over 100 adjacent landowners to answer questions and hear their concerns.

And, inevitably, there were the political issues to deal with that are part of every large-scale public project. “People love these trails, but on every single one there’s always some opposition from adjacent property owners who don’t want it,” he explained. “It’s a universal experience. Some landowners perceive the trail will impact their privacy. Other objections just don’t have merit, such as concerns trails will attract crime and drug sales, or that visitors will leave the trail and invade private property. Those things just don’t happen.”

Multiply these local issues across 750 miles of trail and it’s easy to see the mental and physical stamina required to coordinate and stay focused on a four-year goal. During the four-year project, he managed to integrate his fitness goals into the overall project, he remembers. “I traveled all over the state for the job, and I spent a lot of time out visiting trails under construction, walking and riding them as they were being built. By going out on the trails you ground yourself on why this is such important work.”

After meeting all these challenges, Andy and his team claimed victory, and in December 2020 New York was able to declare the Empire State Trail open for business. This month for the first time he will get to ride long distance on the trail as he participates in the 24th annual Cycle the Erie Canal, an eight-day, 400-mile bike tour from Buffalo to Albany, organized by Parks & Trails New York, and funded in part through the support of NYS Canal Corporation and Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. He’s done the event twice in the past, the most recent in 2017 when the EST project had just started. “It was very much a reconnaissance trip to see the condition of the existing trails as well as to see the gaps. To see the whole route spool out as we ride across the state is going to be a lot of fun.”

Today, Andy has retired from full-time state service and likes to visit the Adirondacks, canoeing in the Whitney and Round Lake wilderness areas near Little Tupper Lake and the Bog River Complex – areas he helped acquire while he worked for The Nature Conservancy. He says their non-motorized status means “you can canoe for miles.”

He also likes to support local non-profit land trusts and conservations organizations by hiking in local nature preserves and state parks whenever he can. He’s also working part-time with the Hudson River Valley Greenway to help administrate and improve the Electric Trail, often using it himself from his home near the trail. “I’m on the trail multiple times a week, whether it’s cycling, walking, or cross-country skiing. I also keep an eye on things, making note when I see a sign knocked down, and even picking up litter!” he says with a laugh.

Empire State Trail – For more information including an interactive online map of all segments and/or to sign-up to be mailed a free printed map of the entire trail, visit: empiretrail.ny.gov. Albany-Hudson Electric Trail – For trail user info and before-and-after photos, go to: hudsongreenway.ny.gov.

Dave Kraus (dbkgrafik@gmail.com) is a longtime area cyclist, photographer, writer, and now cycling tour guide for some of the best companies in the Great Northeast. Visit: krausgrafik.com.