Vermont State Parks

This summer, if you launch your canoe, kayak or motorboat from the Blush Hill Access area on Waterbury Reservoir, chances are you'll meet a Boat Greeter. The greeter will provide information about the reservoir and educate users about what they can do to keep the lake free from invasive aquatic species. The program is made possible by a grant from the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation to Friends of Waterbury Reservoir, a non-profit group committed to protecting and enhancing the ecological, recreational and community values of the Waterbury Reservoir. The Friends of Waterbury Reservoir is currently accepting applications for the Boat Greeter position, which will be part time, a couple of days a week from May - September. You can view the complete job description, or to application here. Since the funding isn't enough to cover the costs of the program, Friends of Waterbury Reservoir is also accepting donations.  You can also donate to the boat greeter progr...

Local moth species, Archiearis infans , also known as The Infant. Day-flier. Reliable sign of early spring. Last spotted resting by a local trail near Coolidge State Park. Good at hiding unless disturbed so look carefully!  The Infant  Photo Credit: Jeremy DeWaard, University of British Columbia Nickname: The Infant Identifying features: Size of a quarter, orange marks on wings, often mistaken for a butterfly.  Wanted for questioning on an unrelated fly-by. Not considered a danger to the public at this time. 

Who: Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, Vermont Fish & Wildlife, and members of the public who have an interest in Molly’s Falls/ Marshfield Reservoir When: Thursday April 21, 2016 5:30- 7:00pm: Open House and Public Comment 7:00-9:00pm: Presentation and Public Comment Where: 3 rd Floor Auditorium, Town Offices, Cabot Vermont Do you live in Central Vermont? Have you used Molly’s Falls in the past? Do you care about the management of Vermont’s natural resources? This is a great chance for the public to be involved in the management of our newest state park, Molly’s Falls, to ask questions and to comment. Attendees and members of the public will also have the opportunity to complete a survey on how they use the reservoir and surrounding area. Molly’s Falls Pond (Marshfield Pond) is a reservoir located just 14.8 miles from Barre, VT in the rural town of Cabot in north-central Vermont. The area is a working landscape of farms and forests, and ...

As an AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America) member, most of the work I do for Vermont State Parks on the Muckross project and day camp is behind the scenes.  I’ve been designing curriculum, writing grants, and applying for the state parks to sponsor an AmeriCorps NCCC Team for a second summer, all of which are done out of the Springfield office.    The Muckross Environmental Education and Outdoor Recreation Day Camp is part of an ongoing process to integrate a new state park into the community of Springfield, Vermont.  The park and camp are the vision of the late State Senator Edgar May, who hoped to transform his 204 acre estate (“Muckross”) into a state park that offers the community opportunities for recreation, environmental education, and access to the natural world.  The camp serves children in 1 st -8 th grades, and ran a successful pilot program in July and August of 2015.  Our mission is “to provide a safe, natural environme...

When the snow starts melting and the temperatures get warmer, most of us want to get outside and hike! But, mud season is not a good time for hiking in certain areas. Rain and melting snow at higher elevations are keeping many of Vermont's hiking trails wet and muddy. When hikers tramp on saturated soils, they cause soil compaction and erosion as well as damage to the trail and surrounding vegetation. Please help protect the fragile trails this time of year by staying off muddy trails. Higher elevation soils take longer to dry out. And after winter, and heavy spring rains, the trails will take longer than normal to firm up.  A trail may seem dry at the trailhead, but is muddy at a higher elevation this time of year. If you notice this happening, please turn around! Trails at lower elevations, dirt roads, and recreation paths provide excellent places for early spring walking. Below is a list of great places to hike during mud season - enjoy! Southeast Vermont:...

My husband, Chris, and I have been the Innkeepers at Seyon Lodge State Park for the past three years. One aspect we love most about working in Vermont State Parks is living in a 27,000 acre state forest and observing the animals that also call this forest home. This year that effort was aided further when Chris' parents gifted us a wildlife camera (we think they really wanted to see more animals of the forest!) So throughout this past season we have been placing it in different areas around the park. Here is a look at some of the animals we saw:   One of the first animals we got photos of was a moose. We see so many signs of moose activity every day. Hoof prints and droppings are everywhere, but to actually see a moose, that is a different story. Moose (alces alces) are the largest of the deer family and are surprisingly nimble for their size. Of the few times over the past couple years I have been lucky enough to see one in person, I am always amazed at how quietly they can m...

I saw a red fox hunting mice in a snowy field in Allis State Park recently. I was out for a trail run in the snowy woods, and popped out into a meadow area. I caught the fox by surprise; it hid behind some winter weeds, and then made a mad dash for nearby woods. Later, at a tracking workshop, I learned that red foxes not only use their keen sense of hearing to hunt for mice underneath the surface of the snow, but they also use Earth’s magnetic field to increase the accuracy of their pounces on prey. When foxes pounce in the Northeastern direction, they are successful in catching a mouse 73% of the time. In other directions the success rate is 18%. It was very exciting to see that red fox, and even more interesting to learn more about them soon afterwards.  (Here are the details on that interesting research: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2011/01/11/foxes-use-the-earths-magnetic-field-as-a-targeting-system/#.VrIns9IrLcs ) This was an adventure of le...