How trail management is impacted by severe weather

By Patti Kellogg, for the Community News Service

As tourists and Vermont residents alike set out on the state’s many hiking trails to admire the fall colors, they’ll find the vast majority of trails open as usual for foot travel. But this year’s drought coming after two prior years of damaging flooding has made upkeep and management of trails more challenging. 

Much of Vermont remains in severe to extreme drought, according to the National Integrated Drought Information System. That’s a sharp contrast to flooding in 2024 and especially 2023 that caused extensive damage including to trails.

The flood to drought scenario complicates trail repairs and improvements.

Waterbars, a key piece of infrastructure to control rainwater flow near trails, are difficult to install both when the soil is too dry and when the soil is too wet.

Stone stairs, which are necessary to slow erosion and help hikers get up steep, rocky stretches, are another piece of infrastructure that is difficult to construct in both droughts and post-flood conditions. 

“In wetter years like last year it was easier to see where water would flow or sit in the trail and therefore where we needed to add these structures,” said Molly Belvo,  a Green Mountain Club trail crew leader.

This year it’s been so dry that trail workers have to try and picture where the water will go.

“We can see places that may be problematic in a heavy rain year, but without actually seeing it (now) we definitely could be missing areas,” Belvo said.

Droughts are a major concern on the trail this year. Trail advisories to carry more water when going on hikes have been issued this summer and fall, especially if hikers are spending the night on trail.  

While dry trails are more likely to remain compact to help prevent erosion, the long term risks that come with drought can be concerning to the future of the trail. On top of that, the Green Mountain Club has put out warnings against lighting outdoor fires since early August as the drought turns forest understories into timberboxes.

Floods in 2023 and in 2024 destroyed trails and trail infrastructure.

Roads, bridges, and trails were washed out or damaged in the floods and access roads to trailheads were destroyed.

“I think it’s going to take years to fix all of the damage from the storm events,” said Mike DeBonis, executive director of the Green Mountain Club, the Waterbury-based nonprofit that manages over 500 miles of trails in Vermont. 

Floods that last only a day or two can lead to erosion levels typically seen only after five or more years of weathering.

“If those floods happened every 10 or 20 years, that’s one thing, but if it’s happening every two or three years do we really have the capacity with our current volunteers to maintain those trails to the standard we strive for?” DeBonis said. 

Every year, volunteers help repair and maintain trails and build infrastructure to help prevent future damage. 

This infrastructure is not cheap. A three-year trail improvement project on the popular Burrows Trail up Camel’s Hump that was completed last fall cost approximately $700,000. The Green Mountain Club and the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation led the work. 

You can’t do that big of a project everywhere, DeBonis said.

“I think one of the things we have to do is be smart and identify those areas that are at the greatest risk and will benefit the most from large scale investment,” he added.

Changes in federal funding also impact trail work.

“AmeriCorps funding cuts cut out certain aspects of our funding,” said Anna Montesanti, the conservation project coordinator at Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, a nonprofit conservation and agriculture organization based in Richmond. 

Funding is not the only barrier to successful trail restoration. The same weather events that cause trail restoration to be necessary also greatly affect trail restoration efforts.

Both drought and heavy rains complicate building of waterbars and other necessary infrastructure. If the soil is too dry, stones used in infrastructure might not ‘suction’ into the holes and can be unstable. If the soil is too wet, the holes dug to put the stones in might fill with sediment and water before stones are able to be properly set, which can cause the rocks to not sit correctly in the ground. 

The availability of crews to lead trail restoration is also at risk.

“People are booking us several years in advance for some projects,” Montesanti said.

Planning and organizing restoration efforts is complicated when natural disasters can strike anytime and there is already so much damage to repair.

“(We) are trying to build with the thought in mind that there will be new disasters,” Montesanti added. 

So what’s the best way to help Vermont’s trails? Volunteering with the Green Mountain Club and local land trusts is one way, according to DeBonis. Donating to trail organizations and also advocating for government funds to go to trail restoration is also important, trail groups say. 

It’s also important to stay off damaged trails impacted by weather events and follow advisories such as the Green Mountain Club’s guidelines.

Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship