Catskill Park

The Catskill Park is the designation for a large area of eastern New York centered on the Catskill Mountains. Like Adirondack Park to the north, the area is unusual in the United States because, while the entire area is considered "parkland", as of 2005 about 54 percent of the land within the boundary consists of privately owned inholdings. Another 5 percent is owned by New York City to protect four of the city's reservoirs that either lie partially within the park or have watersheds encompassing parts of the park. The remaining 41 percent, or 287,500 acres (116,300 ha), is publicly owned by the state as part of the Forest Preserve.

Like Adirondack Park, the total acreage is defined by a Blue Line which encompasses all or part of four counties: Delaware, Greene, Sullivan, and Ulster, amounting to about 700,000 acres (280,000 ha; 2,800 km²).

There are bobcats, minks and fishers in the preserve, and coyotes are often heard. There are some 400 black bears living in the region. The state operates numerous campgrounds and there are over 300 miles (500 km) of multi-use trails. Hunting is permitted, in season, in much of the park. It has approximately 50,000 permanent residents, bolstered somewhat by second-home ownership on weekends and in the summer, and attracts about half a million visitors every year.

The park is governed by Article 14 of the state constitution, which stipulates that all land owned or acquired by the state within cannot be sold or otherwise transferred (absent amending the constitution, which has been done on several occasions), may not be used for logging and must remain "forever wild."