New Vermont Trails

Thanks to funding from the Upper Missisquoi and Trout Rivers Wild and Scenic Committee, the Northern Forest Canoe Trail’s professional stewardship crew completed a new access to the Missisquoi River this summer in East Richford. Read more about the project here. 

Recently,  the Vergennes Recreation Committee celebrated the opening of 2,100-foot Vergennes Connector Trail, which includes a 155-foot wheelchair-accessible boardwalk. The trail will eventually be a 5-mile loop around the city.

Projects under the Flood Recovery track of the VOREC Community Grant Program will now require landowner permission for a 5-year term for trail rehabilitation/repair projects, including major reconstruction projects. The new 2023 VCGP Flood Recovery Private Landowner Permission Form is located on the VOREC Community Grant Program website and attached to this email. This change and the new form apply only to Flood Recovery track grant projects with major or minor trail repair and reconstruction components, including rebuilding trails, and adding water diversion or erosion control structures like waterbars and stone steps. Requirements remain unchanged for permanent buildings and infrastructure, such as engineered bridges and bathroom facilities. We will continue to require a minimum of a 25-year easement for all VOREC Community Grant Program tracks that repair or replace permanent infrastructure, including the Flood Recovery track. Signed landowner permission is only required if the grantee is not the owner of the parcel(s) on which the construction will occur. 

If you are applying for a Flood Recovery grant, please upload the 2023 VCGP Flood Recovery Private Landowner Permission Form in the online application under “Landowner Permission Form” in the “Required for Construction” section. If you already have the 2023 FPR Grant Programs Private Landowner Permission Form signed by the landowner for a flood recovery track grant, you can use that form. You do not need to return to the landowner to get a new form signed. Please note that all Flood Recovery grants are considered construction projects and applicants should reply yes to the question “Does your project include the construction or renovation/rehabilitation/repair of buildings, trails or other infrastructure?” in the Work Plan section of the application. 

Implementation and Outdoor Equity track projects with construction components should use the 2023 FPR Grant Programs Private Landowner Permission Form, which is posted in the application under “Document Downloads” and requires a 5-year term for maintenance projects and a 10-year term for major reconstruction projects, as is standard across Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation Outdoor Recreation Grants. If landowner permission is needed for Project Development projects, the 2023 FPR Grant Programs Private Landowner Permission Form can be uploaded in SECTION 6: Supplemental Information. 

If you have any questions about this change, please reach out to FPR by emailing anr.fprrecreationgrants@vermont.gov or calling Claire Polfus, Recreation Program Manager, at 802-505-5372. 

November's 5th annual VOBA Outdoor Economy Summit  provided a great opportunity for VTGC members to take part in statewide outdoor recreation and conservation conversations. VTGC Co-chair Nick Bennette sat on a 30x30 panel with Trey Martin (Vermont Housing & Conservation Board), Jamie Fidel (Vermont Natural Resources Council), and Shelby Semmes (Trust for Public Land) that revolved around the importance of public-access recreation as a driver for conservation. Our government affairs consultant, Jill Sudhoff-Guerin led a session on advocacy and key topics for the upcoming legislative session, with Board member Abby Long providing Council perspectives. Vice Co-Chair Mariah Keagy co-led a session on workforce issues. Governor Phil Scott and State Treasurer Mike Piecek were part of the official program, making it a great opportunity to raise not only the profile of Council priorities, but of the Council itself.

On October 19th, VTGC board members and FPR staff met with legislators to showcase the transformative benefits of outdoor recreation in rural communities. We were able to show legislators how Poultney is a great example of a town that is rebuilding new economic resilience through investing in and promoting its outdoor recreational assets. We started with a brief tour of Slate Valley Trails, led by VTGC Board member Caitrin Maloney and Sarah Pelkey, the Community Development Coordinator for the Town of Poultney. We illustrated firsthand how sustainable trail building can better withstand rainstorms like the ones we've had this summer. We then quickly caravaned to downtown Poultney and took another walk on the D&H Rail Trail, visited the Slate Valley Trails office and had a hearty lunch at the Rail Trail Eatery. Let your legislator know we look forward to working with them on H.467, so that we can create a future with healthy, ecologically-conscious, thriving Vermont communities. 

FPR welcomed Lauren Pyle as the new Outdoor Recreation Grants Manager on October 2nd. Lauren recently moved to Vermont from North Carolina, where she was the Executive Director of Environmental Educators of North Carolina. Lauren will lead a team that will manage all three of FPR’s recreation grant programs – LWCF, RTP and the VOREC Community Grants. She is busy learning the ropes and has already been an incredibly valuable addition to FPR’s team.

FPR hosted a retirement party for long-time RTP Program Manager, Sherry Winnie, at the Zen Barn in Waterbury. Nick Bennette, VTGC Co-chair, presented Sherry with a lifetime membership to VTGC in honor of her immense contribution to trails and recreation in Vermont, with Walter Opuszinsky presenting a plaque of confidence markers from the myriad trail organizations that her work helped support. In her decades of service, Sherry stewarded funding for hundreds of trail projects in every corner of the state. Although the trails community will miss her smile on the other end of grants, webinars and phone calls, we all wish her well in her well-earned retirement.

East Montpelier Trails opened the Bobolink Trail, connecting the Mallory Brook Trail to Town Hill Road. Highlights of the trail include views of the mountains to the East and a beautiful new bridge built by Timber & Stone. The trail system is nearly complete, looping from the border of Montpelier, touching the border of Calais, through the heart of East Montpelier and through U-32 trails to the Cross-Vermont Trail. The trail started 30 years ago and is nearing completion at 17 miles. 

  The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation (FPR) and the Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative (VOREC) launched the groundbreaking Move Forward Together Vermont: Designing our Outdoor Recreation Future initiative. This ambitious statewide planning endeavor combines the Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP) and the VOREC Action Plan. It  has been designed to address a critical need – creating and sustaining opportunities that strengthen Vermont’s outdoor recreation spaces and communities. There are multiple ways to engage in the process, which are listed on the project’s website. Of particular note, the Recreation Provider Survey is open now. Please fill out the survey to show the importance of trail organizations in providing recreation spaces and programming in Vermont! Please note: this is a different survey than VTGC’s Stakeholder survey. 

 The Federal Highway Administration has issued a waiver of Buy America, Build America for all Recreational Trails Program projects under $250,000. Going forward, RTP projects in Vermont will not have to provide certification that steel and lumber used in projects was manufactured in the US or that a US-made option was not available, which previously had been a major burden. Projects that include steel, like bridges, and projects that involve buying equipment will now be much easier for Vermont organizations to implement. FPR will be including this new information in the guidance for the next round of RTP grants.