friends of the west river trail

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Invest in the Trail: Matching Grant & New Pathway Campaign Launches!

West River Trail Autumn

We have an unprecedented opportunity to advance the mission of the Friends of the West River Trail (FWRT) on both ends of our beloved corridor. The Upper Section is leveraging a $10,000 matching grant to eliminate property debt and unlock future improvements, while the Lower Section is launching the ambitious campaign to create the new Fort Hill Trail Extension. Your support today will ensure we move from maintaining the past to building the future.

Since 1992, the long-term goal of the Friends of the West River Trail (FWRT) has been to establish a seamless, scenic corridor through the West River Valley, securing as much of the historic West River Railroad bed as possible to ultimately link towns from Brattleboro to South Londonderry; this vision is realized through the focused efforts of two groups: the Upper Section, which maintains and enhances trails on public lands in Londonderry, Jamaica, and Townshend, and the Lower Section, which concentrates on expansion efforts in the south, from Brattleboro into Dummerston.

Upper Section: $10,000 Matching Grant to Eliminate Debt: Letter from Greg Meulemans, President, Friends of the West River Trail

We have very exciting news to share. The FWRT has been offered a special, one-time opportunity to eliminate the debt incurred by our acquisition of the Derby property adjacent to the South Londonderry West River trailhead. A generous donor has offered a matching grant of up to $10,000 to help us shed this burden. Eliminating this debt will immediately enhance our ability to improve both the Trail and the Depot and to expand our educational and entertainment programs. Note the word “matching”, every dollar you donate is doubled!

As a user of this well-loved community resource, we are asking for your help to eliminate this debt so we can focus entirely on the trail. The Friends chose to acquire this property to protect access to the trailhead and to permit the potential future improvements of increased parking and the installation of an information kiosk. These enhancements have been delayed while we amortize the purchase cost.

Our normal operating income currently only covers our basic operating expenses, including those debt payments, leaving little room for the crucial improvements we want to make and leading to deferred maintenance of the Depot.

We know you believe in our organization’s mission. We hope we can count on you to be generous and not let this unique opportunity slip away.

Please help us realize this one-time opportunity for the Upper Section of the West River Trail. Thank you for your interest and consideration! 

While the Upper Section focuses on unlocking existing infrastructure, the Lower Section is focused on an exciting new expansion.

Lower Section: Building the Fort Hill Trail Extension: Letter from Friends of the West River Trail, Lower Section Steering Committee

The Lower Section has had an active year, significantly improving the West River Trail by installing new culverts, clearing ditches, and enhancing accessibility, all thanks to your ongoing support!

Now, we’re looking to the future with an exciting vision: the creation of the new Fort Hill Trail Extension in Brattleboro. This ambitious project will extend from Bridge Street to the abandoned Fort Hill Railroad Bridge, securing key easements and rights-of-way.

Imagine a pedestrian and bicycle path offering stunning river views and directly connecting Brattleboro to over 80 miles of existing rail-trails in New Hampshire!

We are committed to building this pathway without direct town funding, but realizing this vision, including necessary infrastructure separation, requires significant capital.

Our Goal: The estimated capital required for the Fort Hill Trail Extension is at least several hundred thousand dollars.

Please consider an early donation today to help us make the Fort Hill Trail Extension a reality! Your generosity is also vital for the ongoing, critical maintenance of the existing West River Trail.

Support the FWRT Today

As the year comes to a close, we sincerely hope you will consider including the West River Trail in your year-end charitable giving plans, if you are able. The West River Trail is a vital place of community, happiness, and outdoor recreational opportunity.

As an all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) nonprofit, your contribution is fully tax-deductible. Click here to donate.

To double your impact for the Upper Section. Click on Make a Donation for the Upper Section. Donations can also be made out to Friends of the West River Trail, Upper Section, and mailed to P.O. Box 2086, South Londonderry, VT 05155.

To help fund the new Pathway for the Lower Section and to support the ongoing, critical maintenance of the existing West River Trail, click on Make a Donation for the Lower Section.

Thank you for your generosity!

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Help Preserve the Beauty of the Trail

West River Trail

Love the West River Trail? Help Preserve Its Beauty! The Friends of the West River Trail (FWRT) invites you to join their “Adopt an Acre” program and help maintain the trail’s natural splendor.

What’s Involved:

  • Adopt: Choose one of two remaining parcels (each one acre or less).
  • Care: Dedicate 8-16 hours per season to your parcel (work can be shared with friends or family).
  • Learn: Receive training on identifying invasive plants and using a GPS app to track your progress.
  • Enjoy: Spend time in a beautiful setting while contributing to the trail’s upkeep.

Upcoming Training:

Join Dan Healey of Longview Forest on Friday, May 17th at 9:30 AM at the Riverstone Preserve for an informative training session. Can’t make it? Don’t worry; we’ll schedule a time that works for you.

Ready to Get Involved?

Contact the FWRT Steering Committee at lowersection@westrivertrail.org to learn more and sign up.

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West River Trail Annual Greetings

We’ve been busy at Friends of the West River Trail during 2023!

Our Lower Section Steering Committee and a group of other dedicated volunteers have been working actively to repair flood damage, improve drainage along the trail, add new benches, clear down trees, and remove invasive vegetation to help restore ecosystem health on the Riverstone Preserve.

We experienced significant flooding this year, necessitating bringing in an excavator and additional rip-rap to repair the trail in places. While we depend a lot on volunteers, carrying out some of this work takes money, and costs keep going up. 

Please consider a year-end donation to Friends of the West River Trail – Lower Section to support this work.

Here’s how we’ve been putting your support to work:

Through periodic work parties, we’re continuing our work to remove invasive plants from the 22-acre Riverstone Preserve. Following professional services several years ago to remove a variety of non-native plants, including oriental bittersweet, multiflora rose, buckthorn, black swallowwort, and Japanese knotweed, we have been out there controlling the residual seedings of these plants that appear. It’s so satisfying to see that native plants are coming back! We are proud that the Vermont Land Trust and other conservation organizations are pointing people to the Riverstone Preserve to see how successful invasives management can be!

We’ve added a couple more benches along the trail, and we have another in the works. These amenities are making it easier for the trail to be enjoyed by older trail users—yes, some of us are getting older!

We’ve improved the access down to the trail from Fox Farm Road, following severe flooding, and we have further improvements planned.

We’re continuing regular trail maintenance, removing down trees, and dealing with some of the challenging drainage problems. We’re trying to do this in a way that protects some rare plant species found along the trail.

We hope to announce shortly a significant addition to the Riverstone Preserve. Our long-term goal is to obtain full ownership or control of the entire Lower Section corridor—from the Marina Restaurant to Rice Farm Road—giving us the ability to enhance recreational access and further protect the ecosystems along here. (A local botanist has identified more than 650 plant species and 120 fungi along the trail and on the Riverstone Preserve!)

And we are working with other organizations in the region in an effort to create a network of linked trails along the Connecticut River and extending into New Hampshire.

A study is being done this fall by a civil engineer (funded by a sizable local donation) to create a prioritized list of action items to ensure that the trail stays in good shape as climate change ushers in an era of more severe storms and flooding. This study will inform the improvements we make to the trail and help us be confident that our funds are well spent.

To be able to continue this important work on the trail and to take advantage of land acquisition and easement protection opportunities as they come along, we need your support. Please consider a year-end donation.

Please consider supporting these efforts. You can donate online at https://westrivertrail.org/donate/

Thank you and best wishes for a healthy and safe 2024.

Lower Section Steering Committee – Friends of the West River Trail
Jason Cooper, Brattleboro
Peter Doran, Brattleboro
Elia Hamilton, Newfane
Matt Mann, Brattleboro
Malcolm Moore, Marlboro
Steve Shriner, Brattleboro
Jesse Wagner, Dummerston
Mark Westa, Brattleboro
Kathleen White, Brattleboro
Alex Wilson, Dummerston

Friends of the West River Trail is a nonprofit (501(c)(3) organization that is 100% volunteer run. Those of us on the Lower Section Steering Committee are your neighbors in Brattleboro, Dummerston, Newfane, and Marlboro—working to provide critically important recreational opportunities for our community.

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Vermont through the eyes of Hollywood

The Vermont Historical Society’s Amanda Gustin will present “Vermont vs Hollywood, 100 Years of Vermont in Film”.

The event will be held on Sunday, Dec.10 at 1:30 p.m. at the South Londonderry Depot, located on West River Street at the intersection with Route 100, immediately south of the West River Bridge.

“Vermont versus Hollywood: 100 Years of Vermont in Film” is a Vermont Humanities Council program hosted by Weston Historical Society and co-hosted by the Friends of the West River Trail and the Londonderry Arts & Historical Society.

Vermont has been a featured location in Hollywood movies for nearly a century. It has represented many different ideals during that time, and its portrayal reflects both Vermont’s own history, as well as that of America.

The talk is free, open to the public, and accessible to those with disabilities. For more information, contact Bob Brandt at rbrandt840@aol.com.

Image from the film “Way Down East” courtesy of the Brandon Reporter.

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Help Maintain the Trail: Adopt an Acre

Do you love the West River Trail?  Would you like to volunteer to help maintain the trail in a meaningful way?  If so, read on!

The Friends of the West River Trail (FWRT) are launching a new volunteer opportunity called “Adopt an Acre”.  There is a lovely 26 acre parcel of land that the trail runs through called the Riverstone Preserve, that includes an interpretive trail, called the Sibosen Trail. FWRT owns this property on which we have a conservation easement with the Vermont Land Trust.

In our Land Management Plan, we pledged to mitigate and control the invasive plants on this property. For several years, with the help of grant funds from the NCRS, we have hired Long View Forest to professionally treat the invasives. We have also been manually pulling the seedlings that continue to emerge, during monthly volunteer work days. Much of the 26 acres continues to need professional treatment, but there are 6 one acre or smaller parcels that can be managed manually, and we are looking for teams (families or groups of friends or individuals) to adopt the parcels. We estimate each parcel may take the equivalent of 8-16 hours per season (depending on how many people are sharing the work) and you may want to do it in 2-hour sessions. It can be a fun way to spend a couple of hours in a lovely place. If you are interested in “Adopting an Acre”, please contact the FWRT Steering Committee at lowersection@westrivertrail.org. We will provide training on identifying invasives, and how to use an app on your phone to show you the boundaries of your parcel, and where you are on your parcel in real time. We hope to hear from you!

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West River Trail Annual Letter: Southern Section

Greetings,

2022 has proven – once again – that outdoor recreational opportunities are very important to individuals, families, and the community – in hard times and in good. The West RiverTrail continues to serve as a place to enjoy our world, alone or with others, while being able to be safely distanced; and it is also a place of community, happiness, and joy.

Use of the trail continues to be very strong. Recent trail counts provided by the Windham Regional Commission show that there are typically 80-90 trail users per day, with peak usage topping 150 walkers, runners, riders, and other trail enthusiasts.  For Brattleboro and the region, the West River Trail is not only a place for outdoor recreation, but it is also good for our economy and our community, helping to attract people to the stores, restaurants, and cultural institutions of our area.

Friends of the West River Trail continues to work to improve and maintain the trail; to provide benches and picnic tables for rest and relaxation; to protect the land along the trail, and to improve the ecosystem health on the Riverstone Preserve.  To do this work, we need your help. Please consider a year-end donation to Friends of the West River Trail – Lower Section, to support this work.

Here’s how we’ve been putting your past support to work:

-We acquired an additional eight-acre parcel along the trail – the Town Line Parcel –which spans the Brattleboro-Dummerston town line and includes about a half-mile of the trail.

-We are using professional control services, along with the work of committed community volunteers, to continue our efforts to remove invasive plants from the 22-acre Riverstone Preserve. This includes removal of a variety of non-native plants and their residual seedlings, including: Asiatic bittersweet, multiflora rose, glossy buckthorn, black swallowwort, Japanese knotweed, and bush honeysuckle. And it’s so satisfying to see that native plants are coming back in place of these invasives!

-We installed additional benches.

-We’re continuing regular trail maintenance, removing fallen trees, and dealing with some of the challenging drainage problems.

-We are in discussions with a number of landowners along the trail about the possibility of acquiring additional land to expand the Riverstone Preserve and ensure protection of the entire Lower Section trail corridor. We are hopeful that we will be able to increase the land area that Friends of the West River Trail can fully manage for biodiversity and recreational opportunities.

-We are working with other organizations in the region to create a network of linked trails along the Connecticut River and extending into New Hampshire.

To be able to continue this important work on the trail and to take advantage of land acquisition and easement protection opportunities as they come along, we need community support. Please consider donating today.

Friends of the West River Trail is a nonprofit (501(c)(3)) organization that is 100% volunteer run. Those of us on the Lower Section Steering Committee are your neighbors in Brattleboro, Dummerston, Newfane, and Marlboro—working to provide critically important recreational opportunities for our community.  Please consider supporting these efforts by going to the Lower Section donate button on the West River Trail donate page.

Thank you and best wishes for a healthy and safe 2023,

Lower Section Steering Committee, Friends of the West River Trail

Jason Cooper, Brattleboro
Peter Doran, Brattleboro
Elia Hamilton, Newfane
Lester Humphreys, Brattleboro
Matt Mann, Brattleboro
Malcolm Moore, Marlboro
Steve Shriner, Brattleboro
Jesse Wagner, Dummerston
Mark Westa, Brattleboro
Kathleen White, Brattleboro
Alex Wilson, Dummerston

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Thank You Trail Volunteers!

On a warm, beautiful Saturday afternoon, at the end of October, we had our last invasive workday of the season, pulling invasives on the Riverstone Preserve. 

Here’s Eric Reinz, one of our dedicated volunteers, holding a handful of asiatic bittersweet seedlings. 

Though we are finished for the year, we plan to be back at it as soon as we can, in the spring of 2023.

We are so grateful for all the volunteers who showed up to help with this effort this year. Together, we pulled a lot of bittersweet seedlings (and some glossy buckthorn), which is a necessary and hugely important part of the management strategy following professional treatments.

Thank you, thank you!

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Workday Scheduled for August 27

Seeking volunteers for the monthly invasives pulling workday on Saturday, August 27 from 9-11 AM. 

We’ll meet at the southern Sibosen trail intersection with the West River Trail on the Riverstone Preserve at 9 AM.  Bring work gloves, water, insect repellant. 

Contact us at lowersection@westrivertrail.org with questions and to let us know you’re coming. Hope you can join us. Thank you!

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School Of The Forest Podcast: The Value of Outdoor Spaces

Recently Christopher Russell, Director; School Of The Forest and Lead Instructor; Jack Mountain Bushcraft School interviewed Steve Shriner and Kathleen about the West River Trail.

Click through to hear the full podcast – The Value Of Accessible Outdoor Spaces With Kathleen White And Steve Shriner Of The Friends Of The West River Trail.

School Of The Forest offers an environment in which young people and adults can learn outdoor skills that they can use for a lifetime. Christopher discovered the West River Trail a couple of years ago when scouting locations for his course on canoe poling, and recently reached out to learn more about the Friends of the West River Trail organization.

Photo courtesy of Christopher Russell, School of the Forest.

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Trail News: Trail Reroute opens!

Huge thanks to the bridge prep crew – Elia Hamilton, Jesse Wagner, Malcolm Moore, Steve Shriner and Alex Wilson – for their contribution to trail improvements! All of this work takes financial and volunteer support. To help with these ongoing efforts to improve the trail, please consider a donation to the West River Trail. We welcome your support in any way you would like to give. Sign up on the website to receive email alerts about Volunteer Work Days and other events, and/or go to our Donate page to make a donation! Thank you!

The letter below is posted on behalf of Steve Shriner, West River Trail Steering Committee. Thanks to Alex Wilson for the photos of the bridge building workshop.

The WRT trail took a new turn recently with the opening of a rerouted portion of the trail in the Riverstone Preserve. This area, known locally as the “sandy area”, suffered from erosion and silt buildup from flooding. The flow of water across the trail from an upstream ravine had become more or less permanent.

The new trail parallels the old and includes a bridge over the stream made from locally sourced locust. In addition to the efforts of our volunteer steering committee, a volunteer group of employees from Nasdaq OneReport completed the final bridge assembly and helped finish the trail. Thanks to all who supported this project!

Projects like this enhance the Trail and make it more accessible and safe for all to use. To help with these ongoing efforts, please consider a donation to the West River Trail. Donate information can be found on our Donate Tab from the home page of the West River Trail website, and by clicking here. Thanks!