Soña Mason: A Day in the Life of the Trail Conference

Trail Conference Role: Program Coordinator

“You can’t love and protect what you don’t know, and trails create a path for people to explore, experience, and develop a passion for wilderness,” says West Hudson Program Coordinator Soña Mason. Soña, who lives in Pearl River, N.Y., works to protect trails and trail lands in a region that is rapidly developing, so conservation of open space is a big part of her job.

In addition to supporting trail crews and maintainers, she provides staff assistance to the Conservation Committee, a team of volunteers that works to preserve green corridors to protect and improve trail experiences throughout the region. Thanks in part to their efforts, Huckleberry Ridge, Gobbler’s Knob, and Roosa Gap state forests were all protected. “The Hudson Valley is unique in that there’s such wild topography within reach of the most densely populated area in the country,” says Soña. “We’re working to create a legacy of wilderness in this sea of development before it’s too late.”