Mad River Path Newsletters

The most recent issue of the Valley Reporter (1/18/07) has an article on the closure of a section of the Mill Brook Trail. For those of you who have not seen this article, I will bring a copy of it to our next board meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 24th @ 6:00 p.m. The article was initiated as a result of a walk I took to assess the needs of the bridges, puncheons and trail. I was astounded by the deteriorated condition of this trail. As Executive Director of the MRPA, the decision to close the trail was made because many parts of the trail are unsafe, and in some areas, hazardous.

This brings to the forefront the necessity of our keeping a good eye on our trails. When a landowner gives us permission to use their land for the Path, we include a guarantee that we will maintain the trail. It is our responsibility to keep this promise.

As we approach Spring of 2007, putting this section of the Path back into useable condition is imperative. We need to hold a Trails committee meeting and assess the needs of this trail, count the number and size of bridges that must be repaired or replaced, measure the length of the puncheon that has been damaged by the clay slide, figure out a way to replace this crossing, document wet areas on the trail that need to be addressed and mark two trail relocations that landowners have requested (Hoopes and Tucker Hill Inn). The Green Mountain Valley School’s Outreach Coordinator, Sam Jackson, has expressed interest in not only helping with spring trail work, but also in becoming a trail adopter for this section of the Path.

At the end of our board meeting next Wednesday I would like to meet with those who will be on this Trails committee and help with putting together a plan. Please let me know in advance who will be part of this group.

At our next board meeting I will also be requesting permission to have the MRPA join the Mad River Valley Chamber of Commerce. I feel that the benefits of becoming more connected with our business community far outweigh the argument of not joining because we are a non-profit. We can give our membership a one year trial and see whether our mission fits with the mission of the Chamber.

I have applied for a Vermont Trails and Recreation Fund mini-grant ($500.00) to create a trail adopter program with the staff and students of the Fayston Elementary School. They have expressed an interest in this partnership and I would like to see this relationship become the first of many trail adopter programs.

I will also be talking to folks at Wood & Wood Sign Company to see about designing a plan for trail signage. The current thought is to have each of our trails marked with a different color/shape/design and at trail heads there will be a map that not only details that trail’s location and description but shows all of our other trails as well.

Received in today’s mail was a check for $5750.00 from the Mad River Valley Recreation District to help fund the new Chase Brook spur trail and bridge. Hopefully, if our request to the VYCC is funded, this money will go towards having a Vermont Youth Conservation Corp group come and work for a week next spring or summer.

I have received two articles for the newsletter so far (Carl – Mad Dash, Fred – I Hate Bridges III). I called Audrey Huffman to see if she could help with putting the next Pathways together. If anyone has Path photos, let me know.

We need to start the ball rolling on the Feb. 18th event at the 1824 House. There should be an ad or an article in the Valley Reporter on February 1.

I have called Chuck Derrick, Danny McHugh, Jack Garvin, etc’s band and asked them to play for us at our 20th Anniversary Bash. They will provide great music at a special price and are looking forward to the opportunity to play for us and be part of this community event. We also need to form a 20th Party committee to start brainstorming ideas: Invitations / PR / Silent Auction / food/ etc.