A decade ago, Vermont River Conservancy helped launch the Lamoille River Paddlers’ Trail — a corridor of canoe and kayak put-ins, portages, and campsites. Today, the trail hosts thousands of paddlers each year, giving people the chance to experience the river’s scenic beauty on day trips or overnight floats.
And we’re not done yet.
Now we’re working to add new swimming holes along the way, focusing on sites adjacent to the parallel Lamoille Valley Rail Trail. These new swimming holes will give people the chance to enjoy a cool dip after a day in the saddle.
In Wolcott, we’re in the midst of conversations to protect 500-feet river frontage on the Lamoille River, where the river features the kinds of exposed ledges, pools, and drops that make for destination swimming holes. There would be new public access for swimming, paddling, and walking – filling an “access desert” where there’s no formal river access within 2-3 miles upstream and downstream. Plus, it will create new opportunities for pedal-paddle or pedal-swimming hole recreation, augmenting the “destination” value of the site in support of Vermont’s growing outdoor recreation economy.
Give today to make sure every Vermont town can access its local rivers.
We’re protecting another 2-acres right next to our popular Nulhegan Hut in the Northeast Kingdom. Perched on a bank above the wild Nulhegan River, it’s a great chance to restore riverside wildlife habitat and welcome visitors to the Nulhegan.
In an area of Brattleboro surrounded by neighborhoods with no local parks, we stepped up to buy 12-acres along Whetstone Brook. Now we're cleaning up the site, restoring it as a floodplain, and building the community a riverfront park.
We're partnering with Northeast Wilderness Trust to protect 6,000 acres at the headwaters of the North Branch of the Winooski River. It's a once in a lifetime chance to give our rivers (and generations to come) the gift of old forests and freshwater streams.