We hope you've been able to take advantage of a fantastic fall in the park. Here's a quick hit of late fall updates and plans for Pine Hill Park.
Sore Elbow Bridge Replacement
The Eagle Scout project is complete on Sore Elbow. Brad Bishop and Troop 120 built us a new bridge for the lower part of Sore Elbow. Check it out—it's wider and sturdier than the old one. A huge
thank you
to Brad (
standing
on the right) and his troop!
Kiosks
Thank you Dave Jenne for a fantastic new kiosk map. Green Screen Graphics did the printing. Both kiosks have been updated to show Jigsaw and Milk Run.
Benches
We have lumber out on Lonely Rock and are still hoping to get a bench constructed out there before snow flies this fall.
Upcoming Trail Closures
We will be closing our normal winter trails: Exit Strategy, the steep hill on Droopy Muffin (between intersection 30 and 30A) and Lichen Rock on the Overlook trail. These sections of trail tread have the type of soil that does not like freeze/thaw cycles with traffic on them. Please respect the trail closures. These small sections will be open until early November. Then the orange snow fencing goes up.
Our Drainages Need Your Help
If you have some time and would like to give back to the park, our drainage's always need a good clean out. Contact us at pinehillpartnership@gmail.com for more info.
About those Leaves
We do not remove leaves from our trails in the fall. From previous experiments, we have learned that leaves actually help our trails in the long run.
There are pros and cons to leaf blowing, and strategies differ by location based on many factors including soil type, climate, weather, and elevation. Yes, leaf blowing helps the trails dry out faster. But as we settle in for winter, we are mostly concerned about freeze/thaw cycles and erosion from rain and snow melt. The leaf surface protects the trail surface during the fall and spring, and during that special time in January when it always seems to rain. Pine Hill, being on a hill, drains and dries rather quickly, especially when aided by typical dry spring winds.
While we haven't done any scientific studies (can someone write a grant?), the consensus from longtime park users and board members who have ridden on the trails when we used to blow them is that leaving the leaves at our particular area reduces overall erosion.
Here is a good video
explaining why leaving leaves is beneficial.
Summer 2021 Nature Report
From gypsy moths to Bald Eagles, Tom Estill's Nature report is exciting!
As fall wraps up, we are already planning for 2022.
If all goes to plan, we will be hosting another
Cold Roll Rutland
, a fat bike event, this coming winter.
Stay tuned......
The ERSA grant
We have been accepted into the final round of applications. We are one of 59 organizations that have moved forward into the final round. We are keeping our fingers crossed that we receive some of the grant money. This will help pay for a VYCC (VT Youth Conservation Corp) trail crew and hopefully bring in a mini-excavator to do repair work on a few of the more advanced trails. This grant will provide us with funds to perform much-needed trail maintenance on some of our older trails. More information on the ERSA grant can be found here:
https://fpr.vermont.gov/recreation/recreation-grants/enhancement-recreation-stewardship-and-access-ersa-trail-grants.
Boardwalk Replacement
We are planning on replacing the main boardwalk at the front entrance.
The current boardwalk was installed in 2003 and is starting to show signs of aging. Tim Vile is graciously giving us a super cool drawing for the new boardwalk. Tim did all the blueprint drawings for the bridges in the park. It will be very similar to the design we have now. We hope to have this project going in late summer 2022.
We are looking for sponsors for the new boardwalk.
Our future trail building plans
Trail map with Maximum Capacity and Bone Spur — click for larger version
Velomont trail map —
click for larger version
Coming Soon!!!
Nate N. will be grooming this winter.
What your membership means to us
Your membership
dollars help Pine Hill Partnership in many ways. A few key points: the Recreational Trail Grant (RTP) we have received is a reimbursement grant in 2022. This means we pay for VYCC up front, then send our invoice to VT Deparment of Forest, Parks and Recreation for reimbursement. If we didn't have money in the bank, we would not have been allowed to apply for the RTP grant. Same with the ERSA grant next year; it is a reimbursment grant so your contribution dollars are important. When we received the RTP grant, it meant we needed an archaeological study that cost $2800, and we needed vehicle insurance as the RTP grant is federal money. Other expenses are liability and board of directors insurance, web hosting, general trail maintanance, tools, Snowdog upkeep, etc.
We are all volunteers that build and maintain Pine Hill Park, Redfield Trails and the Carriage Trail.
Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, we have lost our large volunteer groups. This means that to
help keep the park up to the standards we are accustomed to seeing,
we are required to apply for grants to help pay for professionals to do the needed work
.
We cannot emphasize enough how important membership dollars are for us. All the membership, contributions, donations all go back directly into Pine Hill Park. We can not sufficiently thank the folks who have supported us over the years. You have no idea how much it is appreciated.
Thank you for supporting Pine Hill Partnership and all the trails in our care. Please remember to socially distance and avoid congregating at intersections. Stay healthy and
enjoy the trails
.
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