Are you ready for the winter ski season? Here are NorthWoods, we have over 12km of groomed and backcountry cross country trails available to the public. Skis and snowshoes are available to rent for $5/day, or bring your own! Ready to get out there? Get the latest on our trail and snow conditions from our recently revived Trail Report! Find the latest issue below! [catlist name=trail-reports numberposts=10 excludeposts=this]
"If you have a dream, you need a team." - Bill Bevans, at NorthWoods' 2011 Strategic Planning Retreat For 6 years, Bill Bevans served on the Board of Directors at NorthWoods Stewardship Center, first as member and most recently as President. It is in these roles that we have known Bill best. It takes a certain kind of person to lead a Board of Directors, particularly for an organization that is located over a mountain, down a few long and winding dirt roads to a place that is literally in the woods, on [Read More...]
A diverse group of foresters, ecologists and landowners met at NorthWoods for a field workshop with Eric Sorenson, co-author of "Wetland, Woodland, Wildland: A Guide to the Natural Communities of Vermont." Along with NorthWoods' Jayson Benoit and three county foresters, Eric led a lively discussion and field tour focused on enrolling special natural communities in Vermont's Current Use program. A driving tour took the group from the NorthWoods lodge to a nearby cedar swamp and rich fen wetland (owned by one of NorthWoods land management clients) and then to the talus [Read More...]
The Upper Connecticut River Watershed Invasive Species Management Area (UCCISMA), formed in late 2010, is a group of individuals, organizations, and government agencies working with landowners to curb the threat of invasive species in the watershed. A warming climate, continued habitat fragmentation, and entry vectors such as road, rail line and utility corridor promote the spread of invasive plant populations negatively impacting water quality and native species of flora and fauna. While invasive plants are at an earlier stage of colonization in the upper reaches of the watershed, the water quality of the [Read More...]
While honoring the old ways is part of what we do at NorthWoods, we are also ready to embrace new technology to reach a new goal. For winter 2015, our goal is to provide easier access to more people to the outdoors, and specifically to the NorthWoods outdoors, in a medium of winter travel that suits the landscape and all sorts of outdoor enthusiasts. To reach this goal, we've updated our three-pin cross-country skis to a much more user-friendly fleet, with NNN easy click-in bindings. These skis will be available free of charge [Read More...]
The Vermont Land Trust (VLT), recently announced the release of an interactive Recreation Map, displaying conserved lands throughout the state which allow recreational access. "It's an important part of our mission to conserve land that offers recreational opportunities. We have conserved land along the Appalachian, Long, and Catamount Trails, and many miles of the VAST snowmobile trail system. We have protected land used for hunting, fishing, swimming, and sledding." The NorthWoods 1500 acre East Charleston campus is reserved under the VLT and we are proud to offer our land to the public for [Read More...]
The NorthWoods Lodge filled with applause when Forest Stewardship Institute Director Jayson Benoit presented the 2014 George Buzzell Forest Stewardship Award to Fern Fontaine at the Annual Stewardship Celebration on October 24th. Fontaine retired this year after an eighteen-year tenure with the Natural Resources program at North Country Career Center in Newport, Vermont, but his dedication to forestry and to education has been lifelong. Benoit recounted some of Fontaine’s early experiences in the field, including Peace Corps service in Niger where he worked to plant trees at the edge of the Sahara desert, but it [Read More...]
With winter right around the corner, NorthWoods is pleased to announce a new partnership with the Vermont Backcountry Alliance -- a working group of the Catamount Trail Association (CTA) dedicated to advancing responsible backcountry skiing and snowboarding in Vermont. With a strong tradition of nordic and backcountry skiing programs, NorthWoods will lend its northern perspective to this emerging group and help raise awareness for backcountry management issues across the northern tier of Vermont. For more information, visit www.vtbc.org and stay tuned for news on up-coming winter programs at NorthWoods. On Thursday, Nov 6th [Read More...]
Fort River Crew October 25th will mark the official opening of the Fort River Birding and Nature Trail at the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge in Hadley, Massachusetts. This trail has been the home base of the NorthWoods Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) Fort River Crew for the past three summers and site of the Corps' annual "Spike Camp" - a week long event that gathers all NorthWoods/USFWS partnership crews from five states for training, team building and an all-crew project. The Fort River trail (and crew) [Read More...]
Improving the 4-season community trail at Albany School required school kids of all ages, community volunteers and school support, and local cedar provided by Goodridge Lumber. An awesome collaboration on a NorthWoods project, funded by a grant from Seventh Generation.
