The metro section of today's New York Times contains a dispatch from Jersey City reporting on a campground there that is scheduled to close. "The demise of the park will leave outdoorsmen with nowhere to pitch a tent in metropolitan New York," the article says. "The closest campground is in Newburgh, N.Y., about 60 miles north of Manhattan."
Well, the editors must not have heard of Heckscher State Park in East Islip, N.Y., which has 69 camp sites and is 50 miles from Manhattan. They must not be aware of Clarence Fahnestock State Park in Carmel, N.Y., which is about 55 miles from Manhattan. And, while they know about the privately owned campground in Jersey City, New Jersey, they are apparently ignorant of the opportunities for camping at Floyd Bennett Field in the Jamaica Bay area of Brooklyn. That campground, which is under the auspices of the Gateway National Recreation Area of the National Park Service, is open to organized groups and to the general public on a limited basis.