On Feb. 10 and 11, the Middlebury Area Land Trust (MALT) held two open houses at the Weybridge Congregational Church in order to gauge public support for the possibility of extending the North Country National Scenic Trail through Addison County. Josh Phillips, executive director of MALT, aims to connect pre-existing trails in order to have the smallest environmental impact possible.
“I’m pretty sure we can create a trail that would be dynamic and interesting,” said Phillips, who predicts that the effect of the trail on Addison County would be mostly positive.
The North Country trail was the first of two National Scenic Trails (NSTs) constructed after the U.S. Congress established the National Trails System in 1968; there are now 11 NSTs. Currently, the trail runs from the Lewis and Clark Trail in central North Dakota to Crown Point, N.Y., but the goal is to extend the route from Chimney Point in Addison County to the Long Trail in Ripton, Vt.; the Long Trail then joins with the Appalachian Trail.
The idea is appealing and important to many because if the 40-mile gap were bridged through Addison County, the North Country NST would measure approximately 4,650 miles, makng it the longest continuous trail in the United States The National Park Service has financed MALT to do a feasibility study for the possibility of
The extension that should be done by September, 2010.
The most likely site for the extension is the Moosalamoo National Recreation Area in the Green Mountain National Forest. According to Donna Marks, recreation planner at the Green Mountain National Forest, the area is the most logical because there are already a wide variety of existing trails that could be connected. Marks hopes the trail will pass through the Moosalamoo campsite, but said the goal is “not to create more trails.”
Tom Gilbert, superintendent of the North Country NST for the National Park Service (NPS) said that in addition to creating temporary jobs building the trail and providing citizens with the opportunity to volunteer, the project is also “just one more way for Middlebury and Addison County to identify themselves with a bigger trail.”
“It doesn’t have to be recreational,” said Joni Osterhaudt, MALT’s Stewardship Coordinator.
“People could just use it as a commute.”
Yet for all of the support MALT and NPS have received from the public, extending the trail has still been a long struggle. No one knows this better than Gilbert, who has been working for the last four decades towards re-establishing the original plan set forth by the U.S. Congress in 1964 that proposed the trail run from the Lewis and Clark Trail in North Dakota all the way to the Appalachian Trail.
In 1974, his efforts were blocked by the Green Mountain Club, which had passed a new policy opposing the development of additional National Scenic Trails in Vermont. According to Gilbert, the group thought that new trails would bring in too many hikers. As a result, the U.S. Department of the Interior altered the final report released in 1975, authorizing the trail to continue to eastern New York only.
The renewed interest in the extension of the trail is a product of Gilbert’s hard work.
“I’m always contacting people,” said Gilbert.
“Sometimes you’ve got to wait for people in positions of influence to change.”
Another key player in the effort to extend the North Country NST is Ronald Strickland, founder of the Pacific Northwest Trail. Strickland specializes in scenic trail research and sees the Addison County trail as an important component of his larger vision, crafted in 1996, to create a transcontinental, “sea to sea” route.
Strickland persuaded the North Country Trail Association to fill in the gaps of the route in both the West and the East. He is currently working on a 900-mile gap to connect the Pacific Northwest Trail to the Continental Divide Trail in western North Dakota.
An outdoor enthusiast himself, Strickland places great value on the power of hiking, and fears that those of the younger generation will lose interest in the activity.
“It’s not only fun, it’s not only good exercise,” said Strickland, “but if you do it a lot, people tend to find themselves.”
Even Strickland acknowledges, however, that the process can be very slow because it is so complex. If the study produced by MALT finds that the extension has enough support and is feasible, a Vermont senator would have to introduce the proposition so Congress could amend the section that states the trail only goes to eastern New York.
This would authorize the NPS to assist in the development on the North Country NST, doing things such as buying tools, signs and markers for the trail.
Another hurdle yet to be overcome involves talking to independent property owners. As of March 2009, the NPS is authorized to buy land from only those who are willing to sell it. Both Gilbert and Phillips are sensitive to this fact, and would only consider buying land if appropriate and necessary.
Despite all the challenges, those involved remain determined to make their vision into reality.
“I believe the original idea of connecting to the Appalachian Trail is worth pursuing,” said Gilbert.
“I haven’t let it die.”
Vermont segment completes national trail
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