Green Lake State Park will be hosting one of five state wide workshops about developing local resources into recreational trails at 6 p.m. April 28, at the park's clubhouse meeting room.

The workshops, which are being put on by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and the nonprofit organization Parks & Trails New York, will help communities identify abandoned railroad corridors, canal towpaths and other historical features with the potential to be turned into a public trail.

In a press release, NYSOPRHP Commissioner Carol Ash said the workshops would provide the community, regional planning organizations and public officials with an opportunity to review inventory and mapping work completed by the agency and to see how local trails could be connected to other communities, parks or ecological organizations.

“New trail connections not only provide recreational opportunities, but also provide sustainable transportation alternatives [and] quiet economic contributors to the community and create green corridors to connect ecological communities,” Ash said in the press release.

In a press release Parks & Trails New York Executive Director Robin Drokin said new trails would be crucial for New York's infrastructure by encouraging more physical activity with the creation of local recreational trails, protecting water and wildlife resources and promoting tourism.

The other workshops will be on April 14, at SUNY Geneseo, April 15, at Woodlawn Beach State Park, April 21, at Bear Mountain State Park and April 22, at Saratoga State Park. All the workshops start at 6 p.m.

For more information on the workshops call Eileen Larrabee or Dan Keefe at (518) 486-1868.