Mad River Path Newsletters

The big event for May was the 20th Anniversary Benefit Bash at the Lareau Farm Inn Pavilion on May 19th. We had a great assortment of silent auction items (35 at last count), wonderful salads made by our board members, music by the popular Big Basin Band, and I would predict, about 150 people attending. The final financial tally looks like we will make close to $3000 profit for the event. Thanks to everyone who got silent auction items, made salads, helped with the set-up and clean-up, collected money and worked to make this a fabulous celebration for the Path’s 20th year. My only wish (hind-sight is wonderful) is that we might have gathered all of the past directors together in a big group photo that we could have put on the website. I have many photos that I will print up and bring them to our next board meeting. I also spent the morning of the Bash at the Farmer’s Market and sold t-shirts and maps and had many interested people stop by to talk about the Path.

We are starting to plan the Chase Brook Bridge project with the VYCC. On May 11th, Fred, Mike Quenneville, John Leddy from the VYCC and I met at the bridge and trail site to look at the bridge location and walk the new trail. Mike (Town of Fayston’s road commissioner) was able to move the two 55’ logs over the brook a week or so later and Fred got together with some students from Green Mt. Valley School to repair two bridges on the Millbrook Trail and paint some of the decking for the new bridge. The VYCC crew is scheduled to be at the site for one week, from July 9 – 13.

The new membership year checks are coming in. So far I have received 51 checks for a total of $2558.00.

On May 15th Linda Lloyd hosted a “Path Summit” at the General Wait House. In attendance were representatives from the MRPA, two select boards, the Chamber of Commerce, planning commissions, conservation commissions, Friends of the Mad River, CVRPC, MRVPD and Agency of Natural Resources. Steve Gladczuk from the Central Vt. Regional Planning Commission showed us the Path Map, section by section. We talked about various routes that could be added to the map, and using different colors or path lines to represent developed/approved/desired segments. A letter that was written by Steve Robbins (past board member and Moretown PC member) was read. This letter was in last week’s Valley Reporter. I’ll bring a couple of extra copies of it to the board meeting if you missed it.

This morning (Tuesday) I spent on the Millbrook Trail, assessing the bridges and I determined that the trail is still not ready to be officially re-opened. There are two bridges that have holes in them and rotten boards, and need to be replaced. When I think about adding new trails to our network, I realize how vital it is to have regularly scheduled work days where we can trim back brush, deal with wet trail surfaces and clear trees from the trails. The issue of finding volunteers to help us with this work is something that we all must have on our agendas.

This afternoon was spent putting up a new wire fence behind Wimbles. The old fence that had been put up did not work and I found it rolled up in a ball under a tree. Hopefully the new one will keep the dogs from trespassing on to the adjoining landowner’s property. I am finding that dogs are an important issue that we need to keep an eye on. One suggestion that I recently heard was to have the West section of the Greenway (across from Hartshorn’s farm stand) a “lease optional zone”. Currently, it is casually known as a “no leash area” by dog owners who want to let their dogs go without a leash. There are few homes on this section of the path, and a lot of open land. I am thinking that if there is an approved area for dogs to go where leashes are optional (and rules determined for close verbal contact) perhaps we can get one step closer to finding a workable relationship with path walkers and dog owners.

So, that’s it for May. The next month’s focus will be getting the Mill Brook trail back in good shape so we can open it again. Let’s see what we can all do to put the Path back into a condition that we all can be proud of. Thanks.