ALBANY - The Adirondack Mountain Club has proposed rerouting many popular hiking trails in the Adirondacks and Catskills into winding switchbacks that will make them longer but provide more protection against erosion.

“Many of our mountain trails have eroded right down to the bedrock,” said Neil Woodworth, club executive director. Paths straight up peaks like mile-high Mt. Marcy were established by early guides, followed by a century of boot traffic, rain and snowmelt that stripped both vegetation and soil. “Often our high peaks trails become brooks during precipitation periods,” he said.

With a handful recently rerouted, the ADK's Woodworth said there are still at least 10 high priority trails on state land in both the Adirondacks and Catskills that need to be realigned and reconstructed, and there are probably 100 altogether. At a recent state Budget Division hearing for 2008-2009, club officials outlined their case.

The ADK has four professional crews that did heavy-duty trail projects - like making rock staircases, wooden bog bridges and trail sidecuts - with $150,000 under a state contract this year. Volunteers among the club's 30,000 members contribute another 5,000 to 10,000 hours annually. State foresters and rangers also do trail work.

The Department of Environmental Conservation, responsible for state forests in the Catskills and Adirondacks, has had talks with the mountain club about trail work and contracting next year, but there has been no specific determination about increases, agency spokeswoman Maureen Wren said Friday.

Plans for any additional work will be developed with DEC regional officials and foresters, including any special measures for high-use areas, she said.

While the club did not propose a specific dollar amount for next year, Woodworth said even raising its contract funding to $200,000 would help. That's still only a fraction of nearly $25 million in the land stewardship account of the state's $300 million Environmental Protection Fund, he said.

New switchback trails have already been set on Pitchoff, Rooster Comb and Giant in the Adirondacks and from Maple Crest Valley up to Black Head and Black Dome in the Catskills. The club hopes to work with the Open Space Institute to reconfigure the Mt. Adams trail in the Adirondacks next year, Woodworth said.

Any controversy comes with longer distances and slower trips to mountaintops for hikers in a hurry. New trails wind back and forth with a grade of about 8 to 10 percent, compared with 20 to 40 percent on more direct routes.

Also needing rehabilitation are trails up Mt. Colden, Marcy, Cascade, Saddleback and Big Slide in the Adirondacks, the ADK executive director said, but the state Department of Environmental Conservation, responsible for some 5 million acres statewide, may have other thoughts.

Major work like rerouting trails could involve changing management plans for specific forest units, Wren said.

AP-ES-11-16-07 1700EST