WALKERS ON THE TRAIL

Newcomers did not necessarily share the natives' appreciation for unimpeded access to the out-of-doors.

RICHARD E. WHALEN

East Hampton has long been distinguished by an unusual level of volunteerism and civic involvement. The Ladies Village Improvement Society was founded more than a century ago to protect and beautify East Hampton Village; local fire and ambulance services are all provided by volunteers. Dozens of volunteer organizations dot the town's civic and social landscape today, each serving a particular community need.

The East Hampton Trails Preservation Society formed around 1980 to address a phenomenon of East Hampton's modern era: the rapid loss of open space to housing developments and, with it, the slow disappearance of another of the town's distinguishing characteristics - the freedom of the woods and fields.

Until very recent times, East Hampton people took for granted their ability to roam the town's woods and dunes and old fields, without hindrance from landowners who, not infrequently, were relatives of one degree or another. By the late 1950s, however, the postwar development boom had reached East Hampton in earnest, bringing with it newcomers who did not necessarily share the natives' appreciation for unimpeded access to the out-of-doors.

The coming crisis in land access was first felt by local horseback riders. In the late 1950s, East Hampton trail riding centered around an association known as the Trailblazers, a casual group whose members at one time or another included Court Talmage and Robert Talmage, Frank (Shank) Dickinson and Phineas Dickinson, the George Sid Millers (Senior and Junior), Roy K. Lester, Elbert Edwards, John Ott, Tom Strong, Fannie Gardiner, and Lee Dion.

The group organized horseback rides through the Northwest Woods and Springs - then still linked by many miles of trails and thousands of acres of undeveloped woodland. They rode out to Montauk from Amagansett, and rode extensively on Montauk, especially at Indian Field. In the late 1960s, to draw attention to a growing loss of trail access, the Trailblazers mounted a "celebrity ride" down the middle of Montauk's Main Street.

It made little difference. By the early 1970s, the Trailblazers had disbanded, and for nearly a decade no organized group of trail users existed, even as the trails themselves were being obliterated by new subdivisions.

Things came to a head around 1980, as longstanding trails in Amagansett and Northwest were closed to the public or vanished before the bulldozer blade. A new organization was formed, headed by Lee Dion: the East Hampton Trails Preservation Society. Its early members were mainly horseback riders, such as Maggie Kotuk, John and Diana Zadarla, Elizabeth Schaffner, Linda Myers, Louise Edwards, and Hale Allen, but a few hikers were involved as well.

The fledgling group was quickly successful. Within a couple of years, the Town Planning Board's regulations had been changed to make trail preservation a priority in the subdivision process. Developers, too, began to see advantages in protecting or rerouting existing trails. Subdivision applications that preserved trails were more favorably received at the Planning Board and, in a new era of environmental awareness and concern for personal fitness, the trails were a ready-made recreational amenity for future homeowners.

The Trails Preservation Society was founded to stop the hemorrhaging loss of old trails and to protect those trails for their historic as well as recreational value. But, as successful as the society was in this endeavor, the remaining old trails no longer formed a cohesive trail system. Moreover, the success of East Hampton's open space initiatives of the 1980s - the preservation of the Grace Estate, Barcelona Neck, and Montauk's Hither Woods chief among them - had opened the door to a whole spectrum of opportunities.

The pre-eminent mission of the Trails Preservation Society thus changed from trail preservation to the creation and maintenance of a network of greenbelt trails which would showcase East Hampton's new preserves - and which, it was hoped, would rival for natural and recreational value the trail system of any comparably-sized community in America.

The first of the society's greenbelt trail projects was the beautiful six-mile-long Northwest Path, cleared by hand in the fall and winter of 1988-89 through the white pine forest and oak woods of Northwest. The Northwest Path required the cooperation of East Hampton Town and Suffolk County officials - not to mention the generosity of one particular private landowner - and it became the template for the other greenbelt trails which followed.

These included the George Sid Miller Jr. Trail in Amagansett and the Stephen Talkhouse Path in Hither Woods, both of which were opened in 1993, and the new Point Woods Trail near Montauk Point.

The 1990s have witnessed a renaissance in recreational trail use in East Hampton, due largely to the efforts of the Trails Preservation Society. Increasing numbers of hikers and, lately, mountain bicyclists have taken to the outdoors to explore the open spaces in which East Hampton people take so much pride.

More recently, the Trails Preservation Society has concentrated on its grandest task: the completion of East Hampton's 45-mile section of the Paumanok Path, which is scheduled to be opened and dedicated in October. The completed Paumanok Path will wend its way east from the town line to the Montauk Lighthouse, affording hikers (and, in some sections, horseback riders and mountain bicyclists) a diverse and scenic window on East Hampton's landscape - while providing yet another testament to the town's sense of community.

Richard E. Whalen, a deputy East Hampton Town attorney, has led more trail walks than he can count.