Welcome!

Many people, passionate about what they do, are

volunteering time today to share their knowledge. Ask

questions, enjoy yourself, share stories.

Our goal is to make Vermont’s recreation trails the best

that they can be: safe, sustainable, and interconnected.

The Vermont Trials and Greenways Council

Seeks to ensure that people will always have access to adequate land and water-based trails and greenways.

Created through state statute in 1993, the Council is comprised of volunteers working to funnel information from user-groups to the Agency of Natural Resources, disperse competitive Recreation Trail Program Funds, and work to ensure a sustainable and safe network of recreation trails in Vermont.

“We do what we can, with what we have, where we are.” T. Roosevelt

Formed out of self organization, Vermont’s Recreation Trails practiced the systems of localvore back when

localvore was the way of life!

The goal of self organization systems is for the many different parts to work together, creating a better situation for all.

The history of Vermont Recreation Trails’ System of Self Organization

• Vermont’s uniquely oriented spine of ridge line sheds water to the Connecticut River and Lake Champlain, making for abundant recreation trail opportunities

• In 1910 the Green Mountain Club revolutionizes large scale landscape recreation management, paving the way for other user groups to create networks that branch beyond the local landscape

• Although these travel corridors are for the public good, needed funds to maintain the integrity of these systems necessitate the formation of membership based organizations

• Membership organizations develop and their efforts are subsidized by grants, allowing for heightened sustainability, standards, and navigation information for the user. This increases trail use and impact

• Non-profit membership organizations and towns take on large tasks and create organizational tunnel vision to achieve objectives and increase organizational effectiveness

All of these amazing developments lead to organizations finding common threads of benefit, working together, and shaping the future of Vermont’s Recreation Trails!

Vermont Trails and Greenways Council

Your unified voice for Vermont

Recreation Trails

ANR Commissioner

Vermont Trails and Greenways

Council

Catamount Trail

Cross-Country Skiers Vermont

Association of Snow Travelers

(VAST) Snowmobiliers

Northern Forest Canoe Trail

Paddlers

Cross Vermont Trail/Local Motion

Bicyclists Vermont ATV

Sportsman’s Association (VASA)

ATVers

Vermont Outdoor Guide Association

Guides Professional Trail Contractors

Trail builders Green Mountain

Club

Hikers Vermont

Towns

Town Forests, Conservation Commissions

Vermont Youth Conservation Corps/Northwoods Stewardship Center

Conservation Corps Upper Valley

Trails Alliance

Regional efforts

Hey, come on. Everyone’s doing it…..

http://www.outdoorindustry.org/images/researchfiles/OIA_OutdoorRecEconomyReport2012.pdf?167

Not surprising….. We like our outdoors.

A good way to see the bird’s eye view

• Vermont contains roughly 6 million acres of land and nearly a million acres of conserved land

• Vermont has approximately 7,099 miles of rivers and streams, 300,000 acres of fresh water wetlands and 809 lakes and ponds

• Trail Finder currently lists: – 198 trails for hiking – 155 trails for walking – 83 unpaved trails for biking – 23 paved on-road bike routes – 133 trails for xc skiing – 2 trails for ice skating – 13 trails for inline skating

To watch an emerging network of how recreation ties the state together you can go to the Vermont Trail Finder developed by Local Motion:

http://trailfinder.info/

What we have been doing to help:

• New website

• Vermont Trail Ethics

• Vermont Recreation Survey Series

• Developing an annual ANR Commissioner’s Report

Developed in the Vermont Trail Collaborative (2009-2011). The collaborative was comprised of three work groups: • Stewardship and

Communications • Landscape Management • Science Panel To explore all the resources that were developed during this process you can go to this link:

http://www.uvm.edu/tourismresearch/?Page=vttrailcollaborative.html

Survey 1 Statewide Recreation Trail Needs

December-February 2012 141 Responses

Survey 2 Landowner Incentives

April-July 2012 313 Respondents

Survey 3 Trail Permits

July-September 2012 39 Respondents

Trail Permit Survey

Please rank the permitting process in terms of how easy or difficult it is for each type of permit, if you have gone through the process.

Answer Options Very Easy Easy Moderate Difficult Very Difficult

Have not had to

use this

permitting

process

Rating Average Response

Count

Section 106- Archeological Permitting 0 2 7 4 1 17 4.77 31

Landowner agreements 0 3 13 6 0 11 4.09 33

Act 250 1 1 7 3 5 13 4.63 30

Wetlands 0 4 7 5 1 13 4.40 30

Ecological 0 2 7 2 1 14 4.69 26

Wildlife considerations 0 3 7 3 2 16 4.68 31

Other (please specify) 5

answered question 34

skipped question 5

How can we work together to make Vermont’s Recreation Trails Better? Reinstate the Recreation Division of the Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation: • Currently there are no full-time recreation positions • The Division was disbanded over 15 years ago Increased funding developed at the state level: • Lifting the Gas Cap on the In-state Recreation Trails Program • Developing a recreation trails lottery ticket, similar to the Maine Outdoor Heritage

Program • Create a Recreation Trail License Plate • Tie Funding directly to user-groups Streamline the permitting process: • The various permitting systems need to collaborate and develop a minimum impact

threshold for recreation trails

Increase Landowner Incentives for allowing public use for recreation: • Create a tax incentive program for landowners who allow public recreation on their

property