Vermont State Parks

Do you love Vermont's trails? Do you want to return some of that love? If so, grab a tool or two and meet at Big Deer campground at 9:00 am, June 16th for a fun filled day of building a trail followed by a BBQ at Boulder Beach . Come see first hand what our summer trail crews do all summer long and learn how to build a trail. Our summer trail crews roam around the state building and maintaining many of Vermont's trails.  We will meet at 9:00 AM and work till 3:00 PM. For more information: Contact Jack Brooks- Jack.Brooks@state.vt.us  Thanks for the enthusiasm and we look forward to the weekend! What to Bring: - Wear older clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty - Hiking boots or closed toe shoes - Gloves - Hat/ Sunscreen/ bug spray - Tools: We will have tools but if you bring a tool or two we would probably use it. That includes; loppers, shovels, McClouds, pic-mattocks, garden rakes, etc. We’ll have a chainsaw and 1 is enough. - Your ...

 Norway spruce tips  Harpoon Brewery 's, Tom Graham, recently created a specialty beer for the fall/winter season named Vermont Spruce Tip Ale using spruce buds harvested from Downer State Forest in Sharon, VT (Vermont's second state forest). Drawing his inspiration from the book, The Homebrewer's Garden , Tom sought out the help of State Forester, Tim Morton who knew just the right place to harvest the beer's main ingredient, young spruce tips. Downer State Forest has a large stand of Norway spruce that hides an understory of spruce saplings. These young evergreens offer easy-to-pick tips or buds. "Harvested at their tender, ripe, bright green peak, the spruce tips impart citrus, pine, spice, herbal and earthy notes" (from Harpoon's website, a description of Vermont Spruce Tip Ale). For the amount of beer that Harpoon wanted to produce, 200 lbs of spruce tips were needed. The process was tricky with only a two-week window for harvesting the tips....

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...

Everyone who has volunteered knows the obvious rewards - self-satisfaction and the feeling that you've made a positive contribution. My husband and I had logged a few volunteer hours before retirement. In addition to school, church and community ventures with our children, over the years we also worked with Habitat for Humanity, veterans groups, special needs kids and HIV/AIDS babies. So when we retired and became full-time RV-ers, it seemed natural to continue donating time to a worthy cause. That's how we connected with Vermont State Parks' Volunteer Program. Like most state park systems, Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation relies heavily on volunteer assistance. Your contribution can be as varied as your individual skills, talents and interests. We chose to live in our RV onsite in exchange for 30 total hours per week commitment. So how has our experience been and what can you expect if you volunteer? Great People We think park staff are pretty special f...