Minnewaska State Park Preserve

The preserve was managed by the Nature Conservancy and by the Open Space Institute until April 2015, at which time management was transferred to the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and the Palisades Interstate Park Commission.

The success was made possible in part because the real estate partnership that sought to develop the Awosting Reserve property collapsed due to an internal financial dispute.

[5] Unique communities such as ice cave talus,[6] pitch pine-oak-heath rocky summit,[7] and extensive chestnut oak forest[8] comprise Minnewaska State Park Preserve.

Wildlife such as the timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus), bobcat (Lynx rufus) and New York State's only documented occurrence of the noctuid moth Zale curema reside within the preserve.

In 1988 under the guidance of Helga Schwartz and through numerous petitions, swimming was reinstated in a small roped off area.

In Spring 2002 SWIM became the Minnewaska Distance Swimmers Association (MDSA) and signed up 430 members its first year.