GOWANDA — Persia town officials and several area residents expressed concern Thursday night over state plans for a handicapped accessible trail overlooking Valentine Flats in the Zoar Valley Multiple Use Area.
Bill Cain of Gowanda, who spent 10 years helping educate visitors to Zoar Valley to its dangers, told members of the Persia Town Board and residents in the audience the state shouldn’t be encouraging more people to the wilderness area with its dangerous cliffs.
The new trail will direct people straight to the Lookout Point area, which is heavily eroded and where at least four people have fallen to their deaths, Cain said.
“It should not be advertised on the Department of Environmental Conservation kiosk by the parking lot.” Easier access will lead to more injuries and deaths, he added.
The handicapped access trail for which more than 100 trees have been cut, will be made of crushed stone and loop around the top of the Valentine Flats area. Cain said there is not much of a view from the trail, which will encourage young people to go off the trail and go near the edge of the cliff.
The internet is largely responsible for the area’s popularity, Cain said.
“Why are we making it easier to improve access to dangerous cliffs?” he asked. “Sending more people to Zoar Valley will probably add to the problem. Their premise that people will stay on the trail is not realistic.”
Nick Crassi, the town disaster coordinator and a former longtime fire chief, said, “It’s always going to be a dangerous point. I’ve rescued people who have fallen and responded to others who died.”
Publicity about Zoar Valley in newspapers, magazines and the internet is hard to avoid, Crassi said. “It’s a beautiful area. The other thing is enforcement.”
Supervisor John Walgus said he and Grassi had stopped by the Valentine Flats area recently and saw people lifting up the yellow tape designed to keep visitors out during construction of the trail.
Cain said he recently saw a woman carrying a child walk out onto the narrow trail on a badly eroded portion at the end of Lookout Point.
Walgus said Phase 1 of the two-phase trail project was initially going to be re-creating a roadway from the top to the bottom of Valentine Flats to improve access for first responders in emergencies. The plan included a heliport which would have required clearing a lot of trees, he said.
The DEC has now made the ADA-compliant trail at the top of the cliff overlooking Valentine Flats phase 1 and the road to the bottom of the valley phase 2, Walgus said. The helipad was eliminated.
“We thought the road for first responders should be first,” the supervisor said.
The original trail was to be raised and with wooden planks, with four raised viewing areas or vistas, Walgus said. DEC also wanted to pave the parking lot at the end of Valentine Flats Road for 24 parking spaces, including handicapped spaces. “I told them no,” because the town would get stuck with maintaining it.
The town has restricted parking along the roadway in order to keep the road open for emergency vehicles and first responders, the supervisor said.
Walgus acknowledged that work has begun on the Valentine Flats Trail with the tree cutting. The trail is being built this summer, when the parking lot and trail into the valley will be temporarily closed.
“The rescue trail and helipad should be first,” Walgus added.
