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As stores close, parking lots empty, and streets go quiet across the state, one public place has managed to remain a bustling refuge for Vermonters: the great outdoors.
“When the weather’s good, there’s about three or four times as many people out as normal,” Tim Wick estimated as he walked along the waterfront in Burlington on a sunny afternoon last week.
And now with Gov. Phil Scott’s “stay home, stay safe” order in effect, more are expected outside since exercise was one of a few key activities deemed an essential reason to leave the house, along with grocery shopping and medical care.
And Vermonters have embraced that exception.
“We definitely noticed an uptick,” said Cindi Wight, director of Burlington Parks & Recreation. “There’s more people in the parks than there normally are this time of year, that’s for sure.”
Wight said with everyone being asked to stay home, she’s not surprised to see them flocking to the city’s parks, noting that 92% of Burlingtonians live a 10-minute walk or less from a park.
One resident, Janet Dufresne, said for her, that park is the Burlington waterfront, which she said she feels “blessed” to live nearby.
“I get my energy usually from being around people,” Dufresne said. “My daughter gets her energy from solitude, but she recognizes I need to be out and about and I don’t even need to talk to someone. I can get energy from the trees — but I’m lucky to get out, and I’m trying to do it every day.”
Wight said so far, her department has determined that most people are using the outdoors safely, following social distancing guidelines and trying to stay 6 feet apart.
She said at the waterfront, the bike path is 15 feet wide — leaving plenty of room for safe social distancing. She also noted that there’s been upticks in use at many of the city’s lesser-used trails and parks, likely from people who want to keep an even greater distance.
“So theoretically, people can keep good social distance from each other,” Wight said. “And it’s really healthy for people to be outside, and not cooped up in the house — for their physical health, and mental health.”
But that’s not the case all across the country — many trails have had to close because of high volumes of hikers. On Tuesday, the Appalachian Trail Conservancy asked hikers to postpone their hikes because the high volume of hikers was making it impractical to practice social distancing. And in Vermont, the Vermont branch of the Nature Conservancy announced Thursday that it was closing its natural areas to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
ATTN: Natural Areas Closed
— The Nature Conservancy in Vermont (@TNCvermont) March 26, 2020
To ensure the health & safety of our staff & visitors in light of @GovPhilScott's "Stay Home-Stay Safe" proclamation
Nature's beauty & strength persists in times of turmoil– stay tuned for ways to engage with nature from the safety of your homes! pic.twitter.com/H2UxNHwLk7
At some locales, including Mount Philo State Park this weekend, parking lots at trailheads and parks have sometimes been crowded, raising concerns.
The Green Mountain Club even encouraged Vermonters to avoid the Long Trail, and instead hike locally, to help slow the spread of the virus.
“We recommend taking walks right out your door and exploring your neighborhood on any trails, dirt roads, or sidewalks you have available,” the Green Mountain Club posted on its website Wednesday. “If we all enjoy the outdoors locally and responsibly, we may be able to avoid that outcome [closing trails] in Vermont.”
Many Vermonters have been doing just that. Dogs have never been happier.
Three fishermen stood a reasonable distance from one another Tuesday afternoon on the Burlington waterfront, which they noted they’d probably be doing regardless of the pandemic. Vermont Fish & Wildlife this week called fishing the “ultimate social distancing activity” in a press release.
“It’s a consideration of course,” said Evan Potter, of COVID-19. “I’m not gonna go somewhere with potentially lots of people. But for the most part, fishing is one of those activities where you don’t really want to be next to your buddy anyway.”
Birding is encouraged, according to David Mears of Audubon Vermont. The Green Mountain Audubon Center’s trails and grounds remain open. Practice social distancing and don’t share binoculars, they advise. (There are videos and photos for those inside.)
Vermont’s state parks remain open for day visits, but officials took to Twitter Wednesday to remind residents to follow health department guidelines:
— Only venture out if you are healthy.
— Stay 6 feet away from others.
— Visit less popular parks and trailheads to avoid congestion.
— Engage in “low risk” activities to avoid hospital visits.
— Avoid touching “frequently touched” surfaces like playground equipment and doorknobs.
— Leash dogs to maintain social distance.
Burlington officials are actively encouraging outdoor activities — they put the tennis and pickleball nets up early. Wight said Parks & Rec has been posting signs in all the city’s parks informing people how to practice social distancing while outdoors. Concerns have been raised about basketball, and city officials have considered discouraging the sport.
“I don’t want to be having to close down parks, locking tennis courts, locking basketball courts, I don’t even know how we’d close playgrounds,” Wight said. “Just be responsible.”
On the department’s website, they acknowledge problems so far: “We hope to keep all these park amenities open and available, but if these spaces continue to draw crowds who are not maintaining a 6’ social distance, we will need to close them.”
Wight also asked that people bring home their trash whenever possible, rather than throwing it away in public trash cans. She said they want to be able to keep their employees home and safe as much as they can, but it’s hard when the parks are getting so much use.
But the people who are enjoying the city’s parks say they’re grateful for the opportunity to get outside.
“I was just telling our skateboarder over there,” Dufresne said, pointing out the lone user of the A_Dog Skatepark Tuesday afternoon, “that I hadn’t anticipated how welcome that sound would be this year. It wasn’t even about people being out and about — it was just about spring, the sound of spring. He’s the only one today but other people hopefully are following the rules.”
The skater, Ben Siegal, said even when the skate park is busy, he’s not too worried about the exposure.
“Usually everyone is moving around and is decently far away. Not in an unfriendly way, just no one is getting that close,” he said. “So this seems to me like a safe place to be.”
Nina Crotts, a visiting hospital worker who was using Burlington’s bike path for the first time Tuesday, said, from her perspective, Vermonters are always outside “rain, shine or snow.”
“Now seems to be no different,” she said.
