Our Logo
The Commission’s Sugar Maple and Red Oak logo represents the official state trees of New York and New Jersey. It takes both states to cooperate for this unique entity to exist.
MISSION STATEMENT
The Palisades Interstate Park Commission shall preserve natural, historic, and cultural resources, and provide for their use by the public for recreational and educational purposes.
The Palisades Interstate Park Commission was formed under an interstate compact in 1900 to protect the Palisades from destruction by stone and gravel quarries operating along the western banks of the Lower Hudson River. As the nation’s first bi-state partnership established to protect and conserve natural lands, the Commission’s role expanded through the years to incorporate more state parks and the creation of the Palisades Interstate Parkway.
Today, the Commission manages 30 parks and historic sites in New York and New Jersey spanning over 125,000 acres and nine million annual visitors. The Commission’s early work helped inspire the emerging fields of environmental stewardship and education, pioneered the goal of exposing children to nature through its group campgrounds, and served as a model for the growth of the national park system.The Palisades Interstate Park Commission, formed in 1900, operates the Palisades Interstate Park in New Jersey and the State Parks and Historic Sites in New York’s Palisades Region.
From 1900 to 1937, the Commissioners of the Palisades Interstate Park consisted of two separate bodies, the New York and New Jersey Commissions (though they generally had identical personnel). In 1937, the two states authorized a Compact to create a single Palisades Interstate Park Commission as a joint corporate municipal instrumentality of the States of New Jersey and New York, and the President of the United States approved the joint resolution granting consent of Congress to the Compact. The Compact provided that the Palisades Interstate Park continue to exist and be maintained in the two States as an Interstate Park. The States pledged faithful cooperation in the future planning, improvement, development, maintenance, government, and management of the park.
The Governor of New York and the Governor of New Jersey each appoint five Commissioners to the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, who serve staggered five-year terms. The Commissioners serve without pay.
Citizens Advisory Council
For the Palisades Interstate Park in New Jersey
This public interest group usually meets the second Thursday afternoon of the month at New Jersey Park Headquarters. Advisory Council members are appointed by the New Jersey State Department of Environmental Protection.
Meetings are open to the public and provide a forum for interested persons to voice their concerns about the Palisades Interstate Park in New Jersey.
Because schedules can change due to holidays and the like, and meeting times and places sometimes vary, visitors are advised to call ahead to confirm meetings: 201-768-1360.
View & Download the latest CAC Meeting Minutes
CAC Council Members:
Chairperson Daniel D. Chazin, Fred Silber, Tony Martin, Peter Michalos, Alan Zimmerman, Debora Davidson
PIPC Public Meeting Schedule
Notice of Regular Meetings of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission, pursuant to N.J.S.A., et seq. and Chapter 511 of the New York Laws of 1976.
The New Jersey Open Public Meetings Law provides that “At least once each year … following the annual organization and reorganization meeting of a public body … every public body shall post and maintain posted throughout the year … a schedule of regular meetings of public body to be held during the succeeding year.”
*CANCELLED* Monday, February 23, 2026* at 12 PM at Fort Lee Historic Park, Fort Lee, New Jersey.
*President’s Day Holiday falls on the third Monday of February; therefore, the meeting will be held on the second Monday.
Monday, April 27, 2026 at 12 PM at Sterling Forest State Park, Tuxedo, New York.
Monday, June 22, 2026 at 12 PM at Greenbrook Sanctuary, Route 9W, Tenafly, New Jersey.
Monday, September 14, 2026 at 12 PM at Nyack Beach State Park, Nyack, New York.
Monday, November 23, 2026 at 12 PM at Alpine Headquarters Court Room, Alpine, New Jersey.
Dedication of the Palisades Interstate Park
Left to right: George W. Perkins, first president of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission; J. Franklin Fort, Governor of New Jersey; Charles Evans Hughes, Governor of New York, gathered for the dedication of the Palisades Interstate Park on September 27, 1909.
The Kearney House | 1909
At this event, which took place at “the old Cornwallis Headquarters” (today known as the Kearney House), the governors of the two states officially opened the new Interstate Park to the public.
Opening of the NJ Section
New York Governor Averell Harriman and New Jersey Governor Robert Meyner at the opening of the NJ Section of the Palisades Interstate Parkway, June 22, 1957.
A People's Park
For over a century, the Palisades Interstate Park Commission has preserved priceless natural and cultural treasures — at the heart of one of the most heavily developed places in the world!