Registration is open for the Birding on the West River walk sponsored by the Vermont Land Trust.
River corridors provide important habitat for migratory and breeding birds. Grab your binoculars and look for birds along the West River Trail.
DATE: Saturday, May 17
TIME: 7:30 –10:00 AM
PLACE: Riverstone Preserve, West River Trail, Brattleboro, VT
Sponsored by The Vermont Land Trust. Click HERE to register. If you have questions, contact Sharon at 802-262-1241 or sharon@vlt.org.
Local non-profit Riverbank Media is pleased to announce a free public screening of its latest film, After the Floods: Vermont’s Rivers and the Legacy of Irene, on Thursday, November 14th, at 6:30pm at the Londonderry Depot at 34 W River St., Londonderry, VT. The hour-long film explores river dynamics, opportunities for improving flood resiliency, and the long-term consequences of river modification on town communities and fish habitat. Producer Joe DeFelice traveled to locations across the state interviewing agency experts and environmental leaders about the current state of our rivers and the challenge of preparing for likely future events. After the Floods was funded in part by a Vermont Fish and Wildlife Watershed grant and is Riverbank Media’s fifth film. For a small donation, DVDs of Riverbank Media’s other work will be available.
Caution: Poison Ivy is abundant along edges of the trail.
About Poison Ivy: Poison Ivy adapts to the environment very well. It can have many forms. It can grow along the ground as a vine, it can grow up trees 30 feet or more and it can look like a shrub. The leaves can be lime green, shiny green, dull green, yellow, orange, red and scarlet. Leaf sizes can range from half an inch to six inches long. Leaves can be notched or not.
The one consistent attribute is that the leaves always come in threes.
Click on poison-ivy.org for more photos and information.
There are areas of the trail where poison ivy is growing along the edges. We would like trail users to be aware of this, so we’re sharing this photo and information to help you identify it. We will also put this photo and information on the trailhead kiosk. Plans are in the works for trying high concentration vinegar spray sometime soon this summer to see if it’s effective in killing it back. If it works well, we will spray again in early summer 2014. If it doesn’t work well, we will look into other ways to eradicate it. If you have suggestions on how to eradicate poison ivy, let us know. Thanks!
Recent West River Trail improvements are the result of the hard work of a crew from the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps. In their three weeks on the West River Trail, the crew rebuilt the bridge by the beaver dam, including stone work underneath, new locust posts set on new stone pilings and lashed railings in place. Wooden mile marker posts have been set every ½ mile, more drainage work was completed, all the old car metal debris and tires have been hauled away and a 1/2 mile of new trail will be cleared, north of the Rice Farm Rd Trailhead, on The Nature Conservancy land. A big thanks to Corps crew members Roslyn Peters, Emma Rubalcava, Gray Barret, Dylan Berger, Amelia Barton, Kate Stevens, Nick Martiros and Zach Sullivan and crew leaders Brittany Kusserow and Alec Harris of the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps for their good work.
We had 18 participants, and raised $401 at the West River Trail Fundraising Run/Walk on a beautiful Saturday morning, July 27.
Thank you to Tim Fleming who conceived of the idea, did much of the organizing and publicity, and ran all the way to the Townshend Dam! Thank you to his daughter, Elsie, for running with him to the Rice Farm Rd trailhead, and to his wife Rebecca for providing water and snacks at that end of the trail for the runners and walkers. Thanks also to everyone who supported the trail by participating and making a donation, and to those who didn’t walk or run but made a donation anyway. And thanks to Malcolm Moore for being there to help with parking, take photos and ride sweep to check on participants; and to Jim Webster for helping Kathleen White with registering participants and having water and watermelon available back at the Marina Trailhead, for those who went out and back. A fun time and a successful event!
Many thanks to all volunteers and helpers for contributing precious time and hard labor to help improve and clean up the West River Trail. A tremendous amount of clean-up work has been accomplished on the trail! The major task of removing huge quantities of trail-side metal debris was achieved with the hands of many individuals and with the help of some very large equipment and machinery.
A big thanks to Jason Evans for removing the junk cars, repairing the access road from Rice Farm Road and doing some resurfacing work. Big thanks also to Bob Spencer of WSWMD for the donation of a dumpster, delivering it to the site and hauling away all the scrap metal and junk cars.
Mother-daughter runners on the lower section last summer. (Photo by Dede Cummings)
Please join us for a West River Trail Benefit Run/Walk on July 27, 2013 at 9:00 am.
This mass start, self-guided event will begin at the trailhead behind the Marina and follow the trail through picturesque natural settings which include beautiful views of the river.
Participants can run or walk as little or as much as they like*.
Mile markers on the first section (3.5 miles) to Rice Farm Road will help participants measure their progress.
A small group of runners will be running all the way to Townshend Dam.
There will be snacks and water near the Rice Farm Rd trailhead, and also upon return at the Marina trailhead.
A suggested donation of $20 will be collected upon sign-in at 8:30 the morning of the event. All proceeds will go to the Friends of the West River Trail for future trail development, enhancement and maintenance.
*Please note! This is a self-guided event and participants will need to return to the start on foot or make arrangements for a ride at the covered bridge in West Dummerston or beyond.
Please email questions to Tim Fleming at timspin@myfairpoint.net
Enjoy the West River Trail, but remember to use caution.
This is a wilderness trail.
Use the trail at your own risk.
Be aware of uneven footing and wildlife.
Be careful, have fun, enjoy the trail!
For more information, contact us at lowersection@westrivertrail.org
“A lifelong couch potato discovers the joys of sunshine and putting one foot in front of the other” — on the West River Trail in April.
A nice mention of the West River Trail from Maine on the blog Fresh Air for Dummies.
The 1st Annual West River Trail Run held on June 1, 2013 was a huge success! Runners were blessed with spectacular weather and a beautiful trail. A big thanks to the runners, volunteers and spectators, and to our partners – Friends of the West River Trail, Southern Vermont Technical Rescue, Winhall/Townshend Campground and Jamaica State Park. A big thanks also to our sponsors – Stratton Mountain Resort, TimberQuest, Prospect Rehabilitation, Real Sports, Peabody’s Apiaries, Taylor Farm, Maggie’s Farm and Grandma Millers.
More pictures can be found on the West River Trail Run Facebook page. Hope to see you again next year!
THE WEST RIVER TRAIL 