Since 2001, the VYCC has had a consistent presence in Norwich, working tirelessly to rehab various sections of the Bill Ballard Trail. The trail is at the center of Norwich’s extensive web of recreation trails, including connections to the Appalachian Trail, Connecticut River, Silvio Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge, Montshire Museum of Science, and the local elementary school. This year, the VYCC will be constructing a hemlock bridge across a small tributary of the Charles Brown Brook which will allow improved access for all ages and abilities.

If you are interested in attending this picnic and meeting the valiant crew members who will perform this important work, please RSVP to this email by Sunday afternoon at the latest. Hope to see you there!

Directions: From the Norwich Exit on Highway 91, (Exit 13) head north on Route 5 and go through the town of Norwich. You will pass Dan & Whit’s General Store on your left. Go past Dan and Whit’s about ½ mile. Take left on Turnpike Rd. Turn left into Huntley parking lot about ¼ mile down the road.

We are adding carrots to our karats! Join us for an evening full of local food (including produce from the Monitor Barn garden), area entertainment, dancing, games and trivia, and fine company in support of Vermont’s leading youth and conservation organization. Additional information about the event can be found online at www.vycc.org or by contacting Breck Knauft at 802.434.3969 x110 or breck@vycc.org.

Join the VYCC Team! For more information, visit here.

Spring is finally in the air and the VYCC’s 2009 Field Season has begun! On March 30, 2009, five young men from all over the country arrived at the West Monitor Barn to begin their training as the first ever Park Educators (PE’s). Over the subsequent weeks of intensive training, PE’s gained certification as CPR/AED First Aid Instructors, Project Learning Tree Instructors, and as Interpretive Guides. The PE’s also developed comfort with the VYCC’s Environmental Education Curriculum that they will be teaching over the course of the summer.

In their next month of training, they will meet their fellow Crew Leaders, work on a watershed restoration project in the Mississquoi Valley, and visit their respective parks: Elmore State Park, Quechee State Park, Moosalamoo Recreation Area, and Hapgood Pond Recreation Area. The PE’s are excited to welcome and work with the visitors and campers to Vermont State Parks.

This month, we started a partnership with Camels Hump Middle School (CHMS) to monitor reptiles and amphibians on our property. Our first step was hosting a training led by the Vermont State Herpetologist and Director of the Vermont Reptile and Amphibian Atlas, Jim Andrews. Jim trained over 30 CHMS teachers and parents, as well as VYCC staff and instructors, on the identification and ecology of frogs, salamanders and snakes that we are likely to find on our land. Jim also discussed how to construct monitoring stations (called cover boards) for snakes and amphibians. This week, 80 students from CHMS visited our property and constructed 15 cover boards for amphibians and 10 for snakes. More students will be visiting next week to construct an additional 5 stations for amphibians and 30 or more for snakes.

If you would like a map showing the locations of VYCC monitoring stations, contact our Land Stewardship Specialist, Bradley Materick and he will send you a copy. This partnership represents a perfect example of the use of our land as an effective outdoor classroom and a valuable community resource, and we want to thank Jim Andrews and the teachers at CHMS who have helped get this project of the ground!

The VYCC announced today that the Connecticut-based 1772 Foundation has generously awarded the VYCC with a $50,000 grant to support the rehabilitation of the recently purchased East Monitor Barn. Once renovated, the East and West Monitor Barns and nearly 400 accompanying acres will return to a single, conserved ownership for productive and sustainable, agricultural, educational and recreational use. These combined facilities will be training headquarters for the VYCC, allowing for continued organizational growth, including the expansion of a year-round and statewide alternative education program.

In April of 2008, following the purchase and successful rehabilitation of the West Monitor Barn, the VYCC acquired the neighboring East Monitor Barn, Carriage Barn, Farm House and 160 acres in order to fully develop the ‘Monitor Barn Leadership, Education and Training Center.’ Representing a highpoint in human and animal powered agriculture, these turn-of-the century barns are one among Vermont’s most important examples of architectural and agricultural heritage. The barns’ unique ventilating system runs from the windows in the clerestory to the stalls in the lowest floor, and allowed farmers to “monitor” the air flow. At the time of their construction, they represented a major advance in agrarian architecture.

Initially, the East Monitor Barn will need to be raised, a new foundation will be installed, and internal post and beam rehabilitation work completed. The VYCC is in discussion with various contractors and hopes to begin the first stages of work later this year.

Support from the 1772 Foundation makes this first phase of work possible, and according to Tom Hark, founding President of the VYCC, “this gift symbolizes a new beginning for a great Vermont structure. These barns are a great source of pride and we can’t wait to use them in ways that strengthen our programs and deepen our ties to the traditions and landscape of the region.”