Burlington Wildways is debuting their first trail Saturday afternoon, connecting Salmon Hole through the Intervale and ending at Ethan Allen Park.
A press conference with Mayor Miro Weinberger and ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at noon on Saturday. The inaugural hike will take place at 1 p.m.
“We [have] a partnership between some of the major public land holders in the city,” Zoe Richards, director of Burlington Wildways, said. “We’ve gotten together to try to do a better job with conservation of a lot of our natural areas and open space.”
Burlington Wildways was created by a 2017 City Council resolution. Their goal is to work collaboratively and find the best way for Burlingtonians to access the natural spaces that comprise a quarter of the city’s total area, including wooded areas and wetlands, according to Richards.
The organization partners with the Burlington Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Department, the Intervale Center, Rock Point and the Winooski Valley Park District.
“Burlington has tremendous natural areas, and a lot of people don’t know about them,” Richards said.
By coordinating with the landowners, the new Burlington Wildways path ties together existing trails with new and clearer signage to make one complete, coherent trail.
“We’ve all banded together to be able to have one trail with one set of signage that gets you to the destination you want to go to,” Richards said.
Richards is hoping the new trail will create opportunities for people who may not have a car to have the chance to explore nature close to home.
“We want to make sure … this is really an asset for residents — both human and animal,” Richards said.
Messages left with the various departments partnering with Burlington Wildways went unreturned by the time of publication.
