Sally's Trail

Community members and Hoth have recognized the importance in maintaining the footpath along the Champlain Canal, from Rte. 197 to East Road.  Doing so would designate the zone as non-commercial or industrial and limit the IDA’s scope for running a new sewer line from Canalside Energy to the Washington County Water Treatment facility.

Village community members and HOTH is moving forward with a plan to limit the WWIDA's proposed sewer line along the Champlain Canal between East Road and Rte. 197.    The construction of this sewer line would impact the freshwater ecosystem that has withstood the shipping of PCB contaminated sediment past its shores from the Hudson River to the Dewatering facility a few hundred miles north.  To lose this piece of land to the WWIDA would limit the ability of Promote Fort Edward to use the Champlain Canal HIstoric Site designation to its advantage.

Read more from the June Board Meeting HERE.  

Thursday, June 16th a letter was sent to Jacky Schillinger, the manager of government and public relations (jacqueline.schillinger@canals.ny.gov or calling 518-449-6049) with a copy of the signed petition, requesting designation of Sally's Trail.  Read the letter below...

I am reaching out to you as a representative of concerned residents from this area. We
are requesting to establish “Sally’s Trail'' as an official designated trail. This trail runs along the
west side of the Champlain Canals from its access at East St south to Argyle St in the village of
Fort Edward. It has been maintained by NYS Canal Corp for 20-25 years. We only recently
discovered its nickname “Sally” and how that came about. Sally was the wife of Dan Culligan, a
former NYS Canal Corp employee. She used this path frequently as a lover of nature and
wildlife. Even after Dan retired and they moved on to Florida, Canal Corp employees have
referred to it as “Sally’s Trail”. I guess everyone who works for the local canal corp knows this
pathway as such. Another point of interest is that on June 4, 2022 - in Washington, DC - the
NYS Canalway Waterway Trail was designated as one of the nine new national recreation trails.
This joins us to a network of more than 1,300 existing national recreation trails. This trail lies
along the aforementioned shoreline. We feel it is imperative to protect access to “Sally’s Trail”
for recreational purposes.
In less than 1 week we have made great strides to make this happen. We have approx
50 village residents who have signed the petition to save “Sally’s Trail”. We have acquired
approx 40 area residents on board thru sign.moveon.org - an online petition that reaches out
thru facebook. We presented to the Fort Edward Town Board on Mon 6/13/22 and were able to
get their endorsement for the designation of said trail. They did not feel it affects them because
it lies within the Village but they offered to reach out to the Village Board to engage their
support. We presented our petitions to the Village Board on Tue 6/14/22. There was much
discussion due to the IDA’s development of Canalside Energy Park. This path is being
considered as in Dave O’Briens email to me “ The only path for sewer to the park is along the
canal and while we are evaluating that, we are evaluating all other options.” We feel this
demonstrates that “ Sally’s Trail” is not the only option. How can we as a community disregard
this recognition from Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.
Thank you for your attention to this region. attached( I hope) or following are:
● Copies of petition from village residents
● Documentation from on line petition
● Posting from National Parks Service News Release
● Website for Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor Paddle the Water Trail ( that we
are a part of) eriecanalway.org/explore/watertrail check it out it’s amazing
● Photo of sunsetting over “Sally’s Trail”
Please contact me if there is any other information I can share. We await your direction on what
steps should be taken next. We look forward to continued networking with NYS Canal Corp in
the future.