Well, keep your fingers crossed, folks. Another grant request proposal is in the mail. The hopes are that we will receive the funding necessary to pull off a comprehensive river access project in the town of Richford, VT. Richford is the last town one would go through on the NFCT before hitting the Canadian border. It is a great spot to do laundry, get a bite, play some frisbee, bird watch… the list goes on. You can find a more details in Map 5 of the NFCT map series.
Right now there is primitive camping allowed at Davis Park and a portage trail that goes through the heart of town. The water access at Davis Park is not ideal. It is comprised of fill that was part of a US Army Corps project from the mid 60’s. You can see the old cement chunks of foundation that make for tough footing.
The proposal includes installing a stone staircase at this location. Something very similar to the one that we are installing on the Permanent Rapids portage in New York, shown below:
This project will also include the installation of a managed campsite complete with Wet Willy and a picnic table (in a more secluded part of Richford) along with the installation of an NFCT kiosk. Like I said, keep your fingers crossed.
This site is bound to become a Waterway Work Trip, possibly as soon as this upcoming season. The interns will have their hands full at this location, and if we received grant funds we will also bring in the NorthWoods Stewardship Center. The NorthWoods Stewardship Center is an organization based out of East Charleston, VT who pull together, train, and field conservation corp crews.
I’ll keep everyone posted on developments.
PS: I don’t believe we have a Trail Maintainer for this segment yet, if anyone is interested let me know: [email protected]
