Royalton
The Royalton-based nonprofit last week led its latest effort to enhance public accessibility to the river, this time at a 6-acre property on Gilman Road, one of many riverside buyout sites purchased by White River Watershed municipalities with Federal Emergency Management Agency funding in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene nearly six years ago. The funding was provided with the agreement that the properties would be maintained as open public spaces.
The outing last Tuesday drew 11 volunteers, including musician Brett Dennen and two members of his crew. Dennen, heard regularly on adult alternative radio stations, was playing at Briggs Opera House in White River Junction later that evening.
“This tour is called the Vacationer Tour because we’re playing at a lot of beautiful places where people go to take a break and restore their souls,” said Dennen, 37. “(Tour manager) Mark (Lynch) and I grew up in a beautiful place (Oakdale, Calif.), and we’ve always taken a lot of pride in being stewards of these places. And this is a great way to connect with the communities where we’re playing.”
Guided by WRP executive director Mary Russ and her husband, project manager Greg Russ, the group used loppers, clippers and various other tools to spruce up two overgrown trails leading to the river. One 500-foot path leads to a wide, rocky beach popular for swimming and as a launching point for paddlers and tubers.
Another trail, about twice as long, meanders northwesterly and ends at a scenic embankment outlook.
“We were here last weekend and the whole parking area was full,” said Greg Russ, who wielded a weed whip to help clear underbrush on the trails. “Tubers love this area. It’s also a great place to bring small kids to splash around. People do all kinds of stuff out here.”
The Gilman Road property is part of an emerging network of recreational sites along the White and its tributaries that WRP envisions as part of a White River Water Trail, with plans for enhanced access and signage at each site and a printed map describing characteristics and appropriate uses. (A first online version of the map is available at whiteriverpartnership.org/water-trail-map.)
Establishing primitive campsites — inspired by such areas on the well-utilized Connecticut River Paddlers Trail — is an ongoing aspect of the project.
“These sites have a lot of cultural value because the river itself is a wonderful resource,” said Mary Russ. “The more safe, reliable access points we have, the more opportunity people will have to come out and enjoy it, and the more they will appreciate it.”
That’s the idea for Dennen, who recently had volunteered for similar work during a tour stop in Bar Harbor, Maine.
“When you get people to the river, they experience the river, and from that experience, love is fostered,” the musician said. “That love fosters a kinship with the river and a desire and a responsibility to protect it. So it’s all about getting people to the river first.”
Braintree (Vt.) Conservation Commission member Tom Cooch performed sweat-inducing work with a motorized blade tool, clearing away stubborn brush impeding the trails. Others focused on removing Japanese knotweed and other invasive species, a never-ending crusade for trail maintainers.
East Randolph native Nate Dyer, who now lives in the Champlain Valley town of Williston, traveled with his wife and three young children to volunteer before taking in the concert.
“We love Brett Dennen’s music, so we thought this would be an awesome thing to do before the show,” said Dyer, a 2000 Randolph Union High graduate. “I used this river growing up, but probably not as much as I should have.
“A lot of people think you need to make a big trip out of getting to the water, driving to state parks and stuff like that. That’s fine, but sometimes it’s best to enjoy what’s right around you and what’s local.”
That’s not an issue for Shay Berry, a former college men’s basketball coach and athletics administrator who lives near the White River in Sharon. An assistant at Dartmouth College during the Terry Dunn era, he went on to be the assistant athletic director for facilities at NCAA Division III Hunter College in New York City. He returned to the area after resigning in 2015.
“I’m a former (WRP) board member, so when I found out about this volunteer day, I was right on it,” Berry said. “Even when I was in New York, my mind was here with the river. It’s the reason I came back.”
The Gilman Road property is one of more than 50 FEMA buyout sites in the watershed, purchased after the historic flooding and damages wrought by Irene in 2011.
For years, the WRP has been working to improve public access at the sites, organizing a series of public meetings to generate ideas for access options and helping to secure grant funding to finalize conceptual plans.
Despite the area’s wet summer, the White River abutting the Gilman Road site last week was receded well into the riverbed and is barely ankle deep in some areas. It was quite different six years ago, when Irene hit.
“The (underground) water table is still low right now, which is why the water level is so low,” Greg Russ noted. “It’s flowing at probably about 300 cubic feet per second. A cubic foot is enough water to fill a basketball.
“During Irene, this river was flowing at 90,000 cubic feet per second. Can you imagine 90,000 basketballs passing by you every second?”
Jared Pendak can be reached at jpendak@vnews.com or 603-727-3225.