The Park Is Mine LINK
super cheap canadian tv movie take on First Blood with tommy lee jones playing a disgruntled vet who takes central park hostage with an ak-47 on veteran's day so that people learn to respect our troops or something. he then goes on to yell about thugs and giggle while he blows shit up and then the city calls in a death squad on him????? very clearly shot in toronto so they make him wear a yankees cap for the entirety of the movie lol. mostly notable because of jones' performance which is actually pretty intense and the insanely good tangerine dream score which makes this film feel at least like 20x more expensive than it actually is.
The Park is Mine
Feels like an 80s update to Rolling Thunder, with that film's gritty Schrader nihilism replaced with a more genteel, crowd-pleasing disposition. Ontario doubles for Central Park and a whole lot of things explode, but there's nary a drop of blood to be seen. The Tangerine Dream score is great and the film cuts right to the chase, but things start to drag once a stringer sneaks into the park to try to get a scoop. In a way, it's almost like what we would've gotten had David Prior made Deadly Prey with HBO money and name stars instead of his brother.
A boating permit is no longer needed to access the Blenheim-Gilboa Lower Reservoir at Mine Kill State Park. Every boater is required to wash their boat using the park's hot water boat wash station before and after entering the reservoir, and sign in at the park office or ticket booth. The boat launch is open from 7:30 am to 1 hour before the park closes. For more information, please contact the park office at (518) 827-8690.
Most New York State Parks charge a vehicle use fee to enter the facility. Fees vary by location and season. A list of entry fees and other park use fees is available below. For fees not listed or to verify information, please contact the park directly.
The easy-to-use Empire Pass card is $80- and your key to all-season enjoyment with unlimited day-use entry at most facilities operated by State Parks and the State Dept. of Environmental Conservation including forests, beaches, trails and more. Purchase online or contact your favorite park for more information. Learn more about our Admission Programs including the Empire Pass.
Highlights of Mine KillState Park: Mine Kill State Park is the namesake of Mine Kill Falls, the signature, 80-foot terraced waterfall that regularly mesmerizes visitors to the park. Mine Kill Falls features a scenic hiking trail (part of the Long Path) from the parking lot down to its base. In addition, visitors get to enjoy a bird's eye view of the waterway along the platforms near the top of the trail.
Hikers will thoroughly enjoy Mine Kill's 8 miles of trails, including to a 5-mile segment of the Long Path, a 350-mile long, marked foot path that runs from the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, NJ, to the John Boyd Thacher State Park west of Albany, NY. The Long Path links together several state, county and town parks on its journey along the Hudson, through the Catskills and toward the Adirondacks.
Mine Kill is home to a wide variety of creatures, and that is thanks to its habitat diversity. Watch the forest change as you hike from towering stands of hemlock to lush floodplain forest filled with sycamore and birch. These trees serve as apartment complexes for all sorts of wildlife, including woodpeckers, bluebirds, bees, and more! Animals like to make their homes in rocky dens as well, and there are a few rock ledges and caves lurking around the park. On the other hand, there are plenty of wide open fields for birds, mice, bees, and butterflies to sift through, catching bugs, picking up pollen from our wildflowers, and munching on some grass. The park also features pristine grassland habitat, constantly-changing wetlands, and the Blenheim-Gilboa Reservoir, which is home to various native fish in addition to the walleye and trout it's stocked with annually. Keep your eyes open when you're walking around and think of what critters could call the area you're walking through home!
Thanks to it's the diversity of its habitats, Mine Kill is home to a wide array of creatures. From native bees to migratory birds to black bears, there's something to see for every type of nature enthusiast. While you're out hiking the trails, make sure to stop and listen for the various sounds of the wild. Some common sounds are chipmunks rustling through the forest floor, bluebirds chattering across open grasslands, bald eagles conversating, pileated woodpeckers cackling, and occasionally the hooting of a barred owl.
Look and listen for these birds atour Park: Bald Eagle
Brown Creeper
Black-Capped Chickadee
Chestnut-Sided Warbler
Eastern Bluebird
Eastern Towhee
Scarlet Tanager
Wild Turkey
Mine Kill State Park is a designated stop on the NewYork State Birding Trail. Mine Kill's Bird Watcher's Checklist isavailable here. Everyone is a Steward: Be a Mine Kill State Park Hero! Know the rules and concerns for the area you'll be visiting.
Leave rocks, plants and other natural objects as you find them.
Let nature's sounds prevail. Avoid loud voices and noises.
Respect other visitors and protect the quality of their experience. Be courteous. Yield to other users on the trail.
Observe wildlife from a distance. Do not follow or approach them. Never feed animals. Feeding wildlife damages their health, alters natural behaviors, and exposes them to predators and other dangers.
Use extra caution when using headphones. You may not be able to hear warnings.
Don't litter.
Formore information, please read our Trail Tips! Ask a Naturalist! Q: What isemerald ash borer? A: Emeraldash borer (EAB) is an invasive wood-boring beetle native to Eastern Asia thatwas first identified in Canton, Michigan in 2002. As the name suggests, EABfeeds on ash trees, and while the ash trees that grow in its native range haveevolved to tolerate it, North American ashes lack the natural defenses to keepthe pest in check. This has allowed EAB to spread across the Eastern UnitedStates from Georgia to Quebec, Canada in the short time since its arrival,killing innumerable white, green, and black ash trees in its wake. EAB wasfirst found in Mine Kill State Park in 2020, and we've since taken severalmeasures to minimize its impact on our ash trees including biocontrol andselective cutting of infested ash trees. Q: What's sospecial about the fossils around here? A: Mine KillState park, as well as several other sites in Southern Schoharie County andGreene County, contains fossils of Earth's earliest forests! These fossilsdate back 390 million years to the late Devonian era, when the area that's nowthe Schoharie valley was a massive river delta that poured into the CatskillSea, an inland sea that covered most of what's now the Eastern United States.The banks of the delta provided the perfect conditions for Devonian plants togrow to tree-like proportions. Meanwhile, brachiopods, clams, and crinoidsformed thick beds of aquatic life in the shallow waters of the delta. 390million years later, these ancient organisms have remained in the Schoharie Valley,preserved indefinitely as fossils. If you want to see some for yourself, headto the base of Mine Kill Falls and look closely at the rocks there. If you'renot having any luck finding your own, stop by our Nature Center and look atsome of the fossils we have on display, or check out the Gilboa Fossil Museum10 minutes south of the park! Did You Know? - DID YOUKNOW? Mine Kill State Park is a stop on the Schoharie CountyEagle Trail! The best place to look for our national bird is the park's boatlaunch on the Blenheim-Gilboa Reservoir, which the eagles think we stock withtrout and walleye just for them. - DID YOU KNOW? TheSchoharie Valley was completely filled with water 15,000 years ago. During themost recent ice age, glaciers dammed up the Schoharie Creek near modern-dayMiddleburgh NY, filling the entire Schoharie Valley below with water. Duringthis period, Mine Kill State Park would have been almost completely underwaterand Vroman's Nose would have been a small island just 20 feet above thesurface!
The Education team at Mine Kill offers a number of differentprograms and activities for all ages completely FREE of charge! Programs can bedone at the park or we can come to your classroom! The lessons listed below arejust a few of the programs we can offer for your classes. Contact us today toschedule your private program!Planting for PollinatorsIn this program, students will learn about the process ofpollination, what is and isn't a pollinator, and why they're important. First,students will break into groups to find pollinators in the wild. Each groupwill then have the opportunity to share their findings, discuss different kindsof pollinators, and why they're important. After the discussion, the studentswill pot up and take home their own native wildflowers to help pollinators intheir own backyard.Tree Life Cycle and ID Students will take a tour of the park's biggest trees whilediscussing their biology and importance with our educators. Along the way,students will learn to identify several species commonly found in New York, howto estimate a tree's age by counting it's rings, and make sun prints of leavesto take home.Wetland Ecology Educators will show students how to catch invertebrates in afreshwater stream before allowing students to try it themselves. All livingthings found are collected in plastic bins and organized into smallercontainers for examination. Our educators will then identify the invertebratescaught by the students along with them by guiding them through an identificationkey. At the end, we will discuss freshwater ecosystems as a whole and howlooking at the invertebrate diversity in them can paint a picture of the healthof the ecosystem.Who's Hoo?Each student receives an owl pellet, gloves, and tweezers tocarefully dissect the owl pellet and examine the remains of the variouscreatures that make up an owl's diet. Educators will demonstrate how an owleats to better explain the student's findings.Forest Signs of Climate ChangeThrough several interactive activities, we will coverclimate change related topics like the greenhouse effect, the carbon cycle, andextreme weather patterns. All of these concepts will then come together for ahike through the woods to look for all of the ways that climate change is currentlyaffecting our forests. This program is intended for students in 6th grade andup.Please contact our Environmental Education Team at Mine KillState Park at 518-827-8685 or minekillsp@parks.ny.govfor more information or to book your education program today! 041b061a72
