Programs and Services

Community Trail Events Calendar

A monthly compilation of regional activities of interest to trail-oriented people is compiled and sent to e-mail subscribers. It is also posted here The Upper Valley Trails Alliance . Recipients need not be members of the UVTA to receive the emailed calendar.

Go Walking!

The Prescription Walking Program is a means to provide people particularly at risk of health problems that may be alleviated through regular physical activity with information and motivation to use trails for exercise. Participants are identified through their visits to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center’s (DHMC) Internal Medicine Clinic, and provided with incentives to become more physically active (“Doctor’s orders!”), and the information they need to connect them with local trails that can help facilitate their lifestyle change. This program was developed and tested at DHMC through a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Active Living by Design Program, and has been successful due to the on-going efforts of Dr. Charlie Brackett at DHMC. The UVTA participated and aided his efforts through the production of the book, Go Walking!, detailing local trails in the communities of Lebanon and Hanover, NH and Norwich and Hartford, VT, production of local trail maps in several communities, and funding assistance. Go Walking! is available at local bookstores or from the Upper Valley Trails Alliance.

Lake Morey Ice Skating Trail

This premier outdoor skating experience on Lake Morey in Fairlee, VT is a loop trail maintained by the Upper Valley Trails Alliance. It is approximately four miles in length, depending upon the lake’s ice and snow conditions. This trail is the site of the January Lake Morey Winter Weekends. Public access to the Ice Skating Trail is at the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife Access parking area on the western side of Lake Morey. Use of the ice trail is solely at the risk of trail users; Upper Valley Trails Alliance does not guarantee the safety of the ice. It is your responsibility to test the ice each time before skating on it.

Passport to Winter Fun

The Passport program is an elementary school fitness program designed to encourage children and their families to remain physically fit during New England’s long winter season. It emphasizes outdoor activities such as sledding, skiing, ice skating, snowshoeing, building snowmen or igloos, or just playing in the snow, but also includes indoor physical exercise. Participants track the days on which they have engaged in at least one hour of physical activity in a booklet resembling a travel passport, progressing through several levels of achievement when they have completed ten, twenty or thirty days of physical activity within the six-week program period. These achievement levels are milestones at which the children receive their choice of a healthy incentive prize.

This year’s program has expanded to reach over 3,000 students in 25 Upper Valley schools. Last year, nearly one quarter of participants completed all thirty days of activity to become “Polar Bear Achievers,” the final achievement level. This past year, all Polar Bear Achievers receive a special insulated lunch tote and are entered in a drawing to win a fantastic grand prize. Click here for more info.

Regional Trail Networking and Planning

The Upper Valley Trails Alliance is taking the lead role in a major regional trail planning effort to link the towns at the heart of the Upper Valley (Lebanon and Hanover, NH and Norwich and Hartford, VT, extending in future phases to the adjacent towns) via a loop trail. This regional planning process is becoming one of UVTA’s major areas of focus. The “Trails Connect” regional planning forum held in March 2008 at Lebanon City Hall was the beginning of a new phase of this project.

Skills Workshops

The Upper Valley Trails Alliance provides skill-building workshops as opportunities to introduce participants to active lifestyle skills. Hosts of these workshops include organizations such as Dartmouth College, and Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center’s Health Improvement Program. Workshops are offered in Walks for Wellness, Nordic Walking, Trail Hiking, Ski Waxing Techniques, Boot-fitting, and more. Please contact UVTA staff to inquire about a workshop for your employees or organization.

Trail of the Month

Throughout the year the Upper Valley Trails Alliance Trail Stewardship Director, John Taylor, leads a guided hike or bicycle ride on a featured “Trail of the Month”. These events are announced in the events calendar, and are open to the public. This is a wonderful way to become familiar with local trails in the Upper Valley.

Upper Valley HEAL

The Upper Valley Trails Alliance has a new partner in promoting year round physical activity! The UVTA has teamed-up with the Upper Valley Healthy Eating Active Living (UV HEAL) Partnership. HEAL is hosted and supported by the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock and is a collaboration of community members and organizations working together to build a community that embraces healthy lifelong habits of 4-season physical activity and good nutrition. The UVTA is an active HEAL partner and supports the efforts of the HEAL Partnership to get people outdoors and active.

It is often a challenge to find ways to get the recommended one hour of physical activity per day, but not here in the Upper Valley! Together with the HEAL Partnership, the UVTA continues to make it easier to Get Out and enjoy the outdoors year round by contributing to the development of the Mascoma River Greenway, Mascoma trails, online trail mapping (Trail Finder), and expanding the Passport to Winter Fun program. Visit the HEAL website (www.uvheal.org) to learn more information about these and other exciting projects. On the website you will have access to UVTA trails information and events, and links to other community resources and partner organizations. The HEAL website will also allow you to share information with other Upper Valley community members by posting questions and comments in the Forums section or by blogging about what your family does to Get Out, and Be Active in the region!