EARLY SUMMER 2020

Hi Folks,

Sorry for the long silence but as with many of us during the current pandemic we are sorting stuff out. Pine Hill Park being a city park our guidelines come from the Rec Dept who in turn follows state guidelines.

What we're super happy with the city did not close Pine Hill Park during the 'Shelter In Place' order. We saw record numbers of pedestrians, mountain bikers. Families with kids/dogs going for a hike or a picnic as one youngster said to me.

To folks who have renewed their Pine Hill Partnership membership, thank you very much for your support. T-shirts are in the process of being ordered and we hope to have them in early June. Thank you for your patience. Folks who have not joined Pine Hill Partnership please think about it as we are all volunteers that do the trail maintenance in the park. Your donation goes back into Pine Hill Park by purchasing tools and materials.

Please consider a donation to Pine Hill Partnership. Every little bit helps.

Update on our large volunteer groups. We have none this year. That means we just lost about 2500 volunteer hours this spring and summer with YES Plan (Rutland High school year end studies) and Youth Works. Between these two groups we had hoped to finish Milk Run. Milk Run starts at Intersection 36(Sore Elbow/Jigsaw) and goes slightly downhill with two current bail out points on to Sore Elbow. What we hope to finish with a couple of community work nights is Milk Run to the bail out onto the double track of Sore Elbow. It is 211' feet of trail that is broken out(organic removed) and needs finish work. Our plan is to have a couple of community work nights to move dirt on this section. What we need from you is your help to dig dirt. We'll supply tools, buckets. You need to bring your own bug spray, gloves and masks. Stay tuned to our Facebook Page, webpage and white board sign for when these community work nights dates. We will practice social distancing and safety guidelines while moving dirt.

VYCC (VT Youth Conservation Corp) reached out to us in early February about potential projects. Which we have projects that would be terrific to have their help. Especially now we have no large volunteer groups. However we have to find funding for VYCC. We have applied for several grants to offset their cost which is $7500/week. We are waiting to hear back on a few applications and have been denied a couple of other grants at this point. If you know of any benefactors or folks who might be willing to help raise $15,000 for a two week VYCC crew please let us know. We would love to utilize VYCC to finish off all of Milk Run. The section of Milk Run that has not been broken out yet is 1600' long which we were hoping to get done this year with YES Plan and Youth Works.

Youth Mountain bike group will not be happening this year thanks to COVID-19. Rec summer races are TBD. Women's Mountain bike clinic and Gritty Girls had already been cancelled.

So what have we been up too?? We had some volunteers who cleaned out drainage's this spring! Thank you, thank you. Exit Strategy got a little TLC early on and is riding really well. New signs were made and are almost ready to put up in the park. The 211' of Milk Run that needs finish work has been cleaned off of dead leaves for finish work to start. Master Gardner's have been hard a work in the front entrance and it looks fantastic.

Nate N built a cart for Snowdog to make it easier to move around inside Giorgetti so we can get it out the door without starting it inside and stinking the arena up.

Thank you for supporting Pine Hill Partnership and all the trails in our care. Stay healthy and we hope to see you soon. 

https://pinehillpark.org