Here’s a sneak peek at a few of our projects “in the pipeline” – just a handful of the 23 places we’re working to protect in 2023.
Whetstone Brook Conservation Lands, Brattleboro
The kid in all of us can appreciate our work in downtown Brattleboro, where – after years of prepping, testing, and planning – oversized dump trucks and bulldozers will be on site doing the heavy lifting to clean-up this industrial wasteland. Thanks to this work, by fall Brattleboro will have a new 12-acre park for walking and splashing, and residents can rest just a little bit easier: When reconnected with its river, this newly restored 12-acre floodplain will be one of the best defenses against the next Tropical Storm Irene, absorbing water to help keep downtown homes and businesses safer during floods.
Canyon Lot, Elmore
This lush moss and fern-filled canyon drips with life year-round in a quiet, off-the-beaten-path corner of central Vermont. Stewarded by the E.B. Hyde family for generations, the hummocks and hollows of the hemlock-spruce forest provide ideal habitat for animals such as ruffed grouse, barred owl, porcupine, red squirrel, flying squirrel, white-tailed deer, and bobcat. The Elmore Branch winds through narrow corridors lined by bedrock cliffs and tumbles down multiple falls. Overhanging hemlock branches shade the river creating ideal habitat for brook trout and other cold water fish species. Thanks to the family’s visionary conservation ethic, this summer we’ll permanently preserve this special place – good news for swimming hole enthusiasts and for the unique plants and wildlife that rely on this verdant old forest.
Sanborn Covered Bridge, Lyndonville
Laced with three branches of the Passumpsic River, Lyndonville residents and town planners are making sure these special waterways become an iconic community centerpiece. Local kids can enjoy riverside trails right outside their elementary school, and residents and visitors can choose from multiple spots for tubing, paddling, and splashing. The town is restoring the historic Sanborn Covered Bridge, one of the town’s many historic bridges, and thanks to a partnership with the Passumpsic Land Trust and a grant from Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, we’ll soon hold an easement at the bridge, ensuring people will always have access to the cool waters below.