News

The Vermont Trails and Greenways Council (VTGC), along with five partner organizations*, was awarded an eighteen-month grant from the Vermont Recreation Economic Collaborative (VOREC) to address trail accessibility in Vermont. As part of that grant, VTGC is conducting a trail user survey to gather feedback from people with mobility challenges or disabilities about their experiences when using Vermont’s trails to enjoy nature or pursue recreation activities such as biking, walking, hiking, bird watching, or paddling. VTGC and its partner organizations will use this feedback to better understand the obstacles that prevent people with mobility challenges and disabilities from accessing trails in Vermont, and identify opportunities to address and overcome those obstacles. The survey will be available through Friday, May 23th. The resulting data will be the topic of conversation at a roundtable event in early summer (date TBD) which survey respondents are invited to attend. The survey will be open through May 23; please share widely with your networks. Contact independent consultant Gretchen Elias at gretchenelias@mac.com with questions or for more information.
*Community Geographics, Northern Forest Canoe Trail, Upper Valley Trails Alliance, Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sport, and Vermont Mountain Biking Association

https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2025-05-02/most-vermonts-public-trails-private-land-sustainable

On a recent chilly morning, Tim Calabrese was carrying a leaf blower across a wooded hillside, just south of downtown Ludlow.

He was following a line of pink flags that marked out a future mountain bike trail, across about 300 acres that are owned by the Fletcher Farm Foundation.

The economy in Ludlow is closely tied to outdoor recreation.

Okemo Mountain is the economic driver during the winter, and Calabrese says his group, Ludlow Area Sports Trails, or LAST, wants to make Ludlow a year-round destination for Vermonters, and visitors, who love the outdoors.

“It is a tourist destination. And for years people would just drive through with bikes on their racks and go to places like Killington, or further north,” said Calabrese, who was one of about a half-dozen volunteers who showed up to do the trail work. “So we’re trying to really put the word out there and build trails and bring people in.”

Outdoor recreation is big business in Vermont.

A recent federal report found that it brings in more than $2 billion a year, and it makes up almost 5% of Vermont’s economy, which is the second-highest percentage in the country.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/northern-forest-canoe-trail-ancient-native-waterway

The rain came down in sheets, roiling the surface of Fourth Lake, an oblong crescent in the heart of New York’s Adirondack Mountains and the largest of eight lakes in the Fulton chain. I laid my paddle on my knees and looked around. Our small flotilla of canoes and kayaks, containing a dozen or so paddlers, was spread out over a half mile, though the downpour obscured many of my companions. We were hustling toward the closest takeout, a mile away on Fifth Lake.