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Worcester Rangers ask Woodbury Select Board for help stabilizing Slate Palm Trail
Summary
Ivan Niles of the Worcester Rangers asked the Select Board to allow the club to repair washouts and re‑grade banks on the Slate Palm Trail (a class 4 road), and said the club will seek multi‑year VAST grant funding and coordinate with the Vermont Land Trust and the town road foreman.
Ivan Niles, speaking on behalf of the Worcester Rangers, told the board that roughly three to four miles of trail on the Slate Palm corridor are badly eroded in places and that Hardwick has substantially stopped grooming the segment.
"We were hoping to get in there and at least so where the washouts ... the water's running down and just eroding everything," Niles said, describing bank failures, washouts, and locations where grooming equipment cannot safely pass. He said the club plans to seek a multi‑year grant from VAST and to perform phased repairs — addressing the worst spots first and continuing in subsequent years.
Niles said the club wants to minimize tree removal and is working with the Vermont Land Trust; he asked the board to authorize work with conditions and to leave final sign‑off to the road foreman. Board members stressed the need for a site walk with the road foreman and an excavation contractor, signage or temporary barriers during work, and clear limits on tree removals in areas the Land Trust owns.
No formal permit was issued; the board agreed the parties should coordinate a site visit, prepare an application showing the proposed scope and mitigation measures, and return with recommended conditions for any work in the town right‑of‑way.
