Trails Update: NorthWoods trails were freshly groomed last night, ready for skiers to brave the falling temps! Rentals available at the lodge. We are short on staff for the holidays, so ring the bell or pop into the back office to find us! Thank you!
Willoughby State Forest Trails Update The Trails in Willoughby State Forest are ready to go! All the trails have been groomed which include the Little Loop, Middle Loop, Bartlett Loop, the CCC road and the Bartlett Mountain Rd. Tracks are set on the Little and Middle loops along with the two roads. There is about a one foot base and lots of fresh powder out there. We will get another grooming in before Christmas. We also plan to groom 2 to 3 times a week throughout the winter, weather permitting. [Read More...]
Win a chance for a free rental of the Bunkhouse! Hold a party for your closest friends in the beautiful NEK woods on any eligible date. You'll get use of the full bunkhouse with 16 bunks, common area, wood stove, and radiant floor heating! Plus, enjoy miles of trails to hike, ski, or snowshoe (depending on the time of year), right out the front door! Clyde river access nearby for those who prefer to paddle. Click below to get your tickets! Buy a Ticket for $15 Buy 5 [Read More...]
The Conservation Corps fall crew is wrapping up a busy field season filled with projects across the Northeast Kingdom. The crew worked in partnership with private landowners and the Essex County Natural Resources Conservation District (ECNRCD) to tackle water quality and erosion issues at Maidstone Lake by building rain gardens, infiltration steps, driveway waterbars, dripline trenches, planting trees and shrubs, and improving drainages. This work was made possible with funding provided by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation Ecosystem Restoration Program (ERP) grant. Farther south, the crew built a river access [Read More...]
On October 24th, NorthWoods invited VT FPR Commissioner Michael Snyder to campus to converse with staff about the outdoor recreation movement in the NEK and throughout Vermont. The group discussed the history of the department, and that while FPR stands for Forest, Parks and Recreation, throughout history not much attention has been made on the state level to Recreation. In an effort to address this, Governor Scott has recently instituted the Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative (VOREC) – a public forum attempting to make living and recreating in Vermont more collaborative. [Read More...]
NorthWoods is seeking landowners who are interested in designing water quality improvement projects on their lakeshore. Through a 2017-2018 Ecosystem Restoration Program (ERP) Grant from the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (VT DEC), NorthWoods Stewardship Center is able to provide free designs of Best Management Practices (BMPs) for lakeshore landowners on Echo Lake and Seymour Lake. BMPs protect and improve water quality in our lakes by reducing stormwater runoff and sediment loading from lakeshore properties. BMPs treat stormwater by reducing its velocity and redirecting it to a treatment area where it [Read More...]
In August, the Watershed Conservation Crew finished up a project on Lake Bomoseen. At the site, they working on encapsulated soil lifts to help rebuild a shoreline. The existing shoreline had been eroding heavily for quite some time and was threatening both the water quality of the lake and the integrity of the road. NorthWoods was brought in to do the installation after receiving an ERP work crew grant that allows us to work on water quality improvement projects throughout the state. We are applying for the same grant for next [Read More...]
NorthWoods Stewardship Center is pleased to accept nominations for the fifth annual George Buzzell Forest Stewardship Award. In honor of the esteemed county forester for which it is named, this award recognizes an individual who is making a positive impact on Northeast Kingdom forests. An award ceremony will be held at the NorthWoods Stewardship Center on Wednesday, November 15, 2017. During his 44 years as Orleans County Forester, George Buzzell exemplified the best practice of his trade, including research that helped to re-define sugarbush management in Vermont. George also cast a welcoming [Read More...]
The NorthWoods Stewardship Center’s Conservation Corps program has a 22-year history of employing local youth to work on priority conservation projects in communities throughout the region with a special focus on the northeast kingdom. The Corps builds and improves hiking trails, manages exotic invasive species, plants riparian buffers, and improves wildlife habitat, and supports ecosystem resilience. This summer we welcomed our newest crew, the Watershed Crew to the multi-faceted Corps. This crew was tasked with completing projects in Vermont’s watersheds to improve water quality and they did an amazing job of [Read More...]
A group of 15 people joined forces on a sunny, late July day to remove exotic invasive plants from the banks of the East Branch Passumpsic River in downtown East Burke. If you’ve visited RubyLee’s Ice Cream, East Burke Sports, or taken a dip in the river after biking at Kingdom Trails, you’ve probably seen the dense walls of vegetation along the river banks. What you may not have noticed is that this vegetation includes five invasive plant species – knotweed, shrub honeysuckle, common reed, glossy buckthorn, and burning bush – [Read More...]
