Vermont State Parks

Nearly 80 years after young men from the CivilianConservation Corps (CCC) constructed what is now Coolidge State Park , a new group of young people from the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) is once again working at the park in Plymouth, VT. The eleven-member NCCC team, based out of the national service program’s Atlantic Region headquarters in Perry Point, MD, has constructed a 600-foot long fence along Coolidge State Park’s main road.  The fence will prevent traffic from entering recreational areas where children play. It is a continuation of an NCCC project from 2009, when the park’s visitor center was constructed with the help of a different NCCC team. The log-railed fence has been constructed much like the park’s iconic log lean-tos and picnic pavilion constructed by the CCC in the 1930s.  The NCCC team, Moose 2, spent three weeks peeling spruce bark by hand, and cutting and setting 20-foot segments of the fence. Like their predecessors in the CCC, much...

Stick collecting was fun at Lake St. Catherine The first volunteer day of the season was a tough one! The weather at Lake St. Catherine State Park was cold, cloudy, and very windy, but this didn't dampen the spirits of eight hard-working individuals. Five AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) volunteers and three Green Mountain College students spent the day collecting broken branches and picking up trash. Having an extra sixteen hands makes getting a park ready for the season a much less daunting task. Lesley Porter,  Branbury State Park's Ranger, was with the group during the day and commented on how great a job everyone did. She couldn't thank them enough! The whole crew after a great day's work For their generosity and efforts, each volunteer received a Vermont State Parks punch card , good for 10-day use visits to any Vermont State Park.  If you are interested in volunteering for parks, there are a few volunteer days coming up just ar...