The River Loop on the Riverstone Preserve will be closed on September 29th for 1 day only. There will be signs about the closure posted at the junctions of this trail with the West River Trail, and at the Rice Farm Road and Marina trail heads. We are sorry for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience as we deal with the important issue of invasive plant mitigation on this special piece of land between the river and the West River Trail.
Riverstone Preserve
Riverstone Preserve Trail Closure

There will most likely be more trail closures announced during the fall for this purpose.
Thank you for your patience!
RIVERSTONE PRESERVE TRAIL CLOSURE
The Friends of the West River Trail received a grant from the USDA and have hired Long View Forest, Inc to treat Bittersweet, Multiflora Rose, Black Swallowort, Buckthorn, Japanese Barberry (and possibly a few others).
Monday, Sept 3 and Tuesday, Sept 4 the Riverstone Preserve portion of the West River Trail will be closed for treatment on invasive plants. The main West River Trail will be closed where it passes along the Riverstone Preserve. Trails within the Riverstone Preserve will be closed. There will be signs at the trailheads at the Marina and Rice Farm Road, and at either end of the section of the Main trail that will be closed. We are sorry for the inconvenience.
Champagne Hikers on the Trail
The Champagne Hikers of Western MA/Southern VT were out on the trail in force on April 11! They hiked 7 1/2 miles from Black Mountain to the Marina, stopping for a break at the picnic table on the Riverstone Preserve. Malcolm Moore of the FWRT lower section steering committee was on the hike and overheard another hiker say “this trail is a treasure!” She’s right! Time to get back on the trail if you took a break over the winter. Come out and look for signs of spring.
Photos by Malcolm Moore.
Winter Trail
Riverstone Preserve Trail
I walked on the new Riverstone Preserve trail yesterday, along the shoreline, that the VYCC crew created. It’s lovely! But I missed the new steps! Are they hidden?
Here’s an invitation to come out on the West River Trail and find the mysterious new stone steps. When you find them, let me know where they are!
Riverstone Preserve Steps
If you’re out on the trail this gorgeous sunny summer morning for the monthly I-91 Bridge Project Trail Talk, why not continue on to see the beautiful stone steps created earlier this summer by the VYCC crew.
Thanks again to the crew from the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC) for their hard work building the new steps at the Riverstone Preserve on the lower section of the West River Trail. Beautiful work! Thanks to Alex Wilson for the photos of the steps and to Jason Cooper for the crew photo.
Trail Work: VYCC & New Steps
A big thanks to the fabulous crew from the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC) for their good work building the new steps at the Riverstone Preserve on the lower section of West River Trail. Beautiful work!
The Riverstone Preserve Trail Work
A huge thanks to the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps crew for their good work on the West River Trail.
Posted on behalf of Alex Wilson: A few weeks ago, it was such a nice day that I decided to bike into work on the trail. I spent a while with the VYCC crew and checking out the new trail along the river in the Preserve. The new trail along the river in the Riverstone Preserve will be a better trail for walking than biking, since it’s pretty twisty. About a thousand feet of new trail represents about a day-and-a-half of work. Work that day included raking, gathering stone, and constructing steps for the access down to the water. Also pictured is a Canada Lily from the protected part of the Preserve. It was nice to see five or six of these beautiful, branching lilies in the Riverstone Preserve.
All photos taken by Alex Wilson.
Riverstone Preserve Presentation
Riverstone Preserve presentation PPT
Click the link above to view a presentation of the River Stone Preserve.
At the recent annual meeting, FWRT board members Lester Humphreys and Paul Cameron gave a presentation on the Riverstone Preserve, a 23-acre parcel which the group acquired in 2013. The land sits one mile north of the Marina restaurant in Brattleboro, between the West River Trail and the river itself. The southern section subcommittee purchased the land for $97,000. One-third of the purchase price was raised in donations and the rest came from a grant from the Vermont Housing Conservation Board. The Vermont Land Trust holds a conservation easement on the property.
Cameron gave an overview of the plant communities in the Riverstone Preserve, which include a sugar maple ostrich fern flood plain community; a river shore grassland that is home to several rare plants such as the great lobelia; and a river cobbleshore, where the FWRT are working to control invasive Japanese knotweed, the worst of several invasive plant species in the preserve. Cameron also reported that last spring a volunteer group formed to develop a management plan for the preserve. So far the group has completed a drainage project, built a trail connector with a board walk, removed an old shed, and continues to work removing invasive species. FWRT would like to build stone steps, picnic table, a pavilion or shelter of some type, and an information kiosk. More volunteers are needed for projects happening this summer, please be in touch if you are interested in volunteering.
West River Trail Update & Annual Meeting Report
The West River Trail is open. Please be aware that there are intersections between construction access and the trail path, and users should exercise extreme caution at these intersections. As an additional safety precaution, users of the West River Trail are reminded to keep pets on a leash in this area. Trail users should be aware that snow removal operations on I-91 may cause snow to fall on the trail.
The next Trail Talk will be held on February 21. Check the I-91 bridge construction website for details.
Friends of the West River Trail (FWRT) in the news. Story published in The Commons issue #292 (Wednesday, February 11, 2015), page B2. Written by Sarah Buckingham.
LONDONDERRY—Work is about to begin to restore the former Newfane depot for use as a railroad museum. The Friends of The West River Trail (FWRT) learned more about this project, and others, when the group held its annual meeting at the former South Londonderry depot last month.
Laura Wallingford-Bacon, president of the Windham County Historical Society in Newfane, said her organization purchased the 1880 building for $42,000 from the children of Fannie and Bill Mantel last fall. It had been in the Mantel family for around 50 years. The railroad went out of business in the 1930s. The purchase price includes historical artifacts in the station. The historical society plans to restore the building and incorporate a collection of artifacts from the West River Railroad that currently resides at the county history museum. South Londonderry and Newfane are the only two of the 10 original depots from the West River Railroad that still sit at their original sites. Other surviving depots that were later relocated can be found in West Dummerston and Williamsville. Wallingford-Bacon said the historical society hopes to raise funds to offset the purchase price and to restore the property and they have received an “encouraging response” to that campaign. The restoration will take place in six phases, with an estimated total cost of around $50,000. The first, and most urgent, phase — addressing drainage and replacing the roof — is expected to cost $16,000.
At the annual meeting, FWRT board members Lester Humphreys and Paul Cameron gave a presentation on the Riverstone Preserve, a 23-acre parcel which the group acquired in 2013. The land sits one mile north of the Marina restaurant in Brattleboro, between the West River Trail and the river itself. The southern section subcommittee purchased the land for $97,000. One-third of the purchase price was raised in donations and the rest came from a grant from the Vermont Housing Conservation Board. The Vermont Land Trust holds a conservation easement on the property.
Cameron gave an overview of the plant communities in the Riverstone Preserve, which include a sugar maple ostrich fern flood plain community; a river shore grassland that is home to several rare plants such as the great lobelia; and a river cobbleshore, where the FWRT are working to control invasive Japanese knotweed, the worst of several invasive plant species in the preserve. Cameron also reported that last spring a volunteer group formed to develop a management plan for the preserve. So far the group has completed a drainage project, built a trail connector with a board walk, removed an old shed, and continues to work removing invasive species. More volunteers are needed for projects happening this summer. FWRT would like to build stone steps, picnic table, a pavilion or shelter of some type, and an information kiosk.
The FWRT board of directors elected Greg Meulemans as board president and treasurer. Humphreys was voted in as vice president of the board and assistant treasurer for the trail’s lower section subcommittee, and Sharon Crossman the assistant treasurer of upper section.
Meulemans reported that FWRT has received a grant for mile markers which will be modeled after railroad markers and be installed along the trail this summer.