Leonard “Len” Frank, a long-time Hackettstown resident who pushed for turning railroad tracks in Northwest New Jersey into hiking trails, passed away in January, New Jersey Conservation Foundation said in a recent homage to the environmentalist.

According to his obituary, the 96-year-old was born in Brooklyn, serving in World War 2 in the Pacific Theater and attending the University of Wisconsin for a degree in Metallurgical Engineering before eventually settling in Hackettstown in 1960. In Hackettstown, he helped establish Heath Village Retirement Community and spent his time in retirement hiking, stamp collecting, and learning about local history. He was also passionate about environmental preservation.

Local hikers have benefited from this passion.

“For many folks, the abandoned rail corridor along the Paulinskill River in Warren and Sussex counties wasn’t worth keeping,” wrote Michele S. Byers, Executive Director of New Jersey Conservation Foundation in a recent edition of the newsletter, State We’re In – Len Frank: Conservation Trailblazer. “But Len Frank and a group of like-minded friends saw a once-in-a-lifetime chance to create a 27-mile multi-purpose trail for hikers, bicyclists, equestrians, cross-country skiers and nature lovers.”

She called him the “driving force” behind the grassroots effort that led to the creation of the Paulinskill Valley Trail, bridging Knowlton Township and Sparta, and which now connects an even larger trail system that crosses the entire breadth of the state.

It wasn’t always an easy fight, she said, with many locals opposing the idea of hikers walking along the edges of their properties, but through letter-writing, fundraisers, and outreach to community organizations, the idea began to gain backing.

What ultimately swayed opinion, Bob Barth, another trail advocate, told the Conservation Foundation, were hikes led by the local Sierra Club (which Frank helped to establish) to different sections of the proposed trail. Among the hikers were lawmakers who saw the importance of preserving the land, he said.

Part of Kittatinny Valley State Park, the Paulinskill Valley Trail was officially purchased by the state in 1992, more than 10 years after Frank and the other trail advocates began their campaign.

There are several places to join the trail with the western end point on Brugler Road in Knowlton Township.