Thread: Off Piste in the Northeast - Slideshow Fundraiser to benefit purchase of Bolton BC

Just saw this and it is a good cause. You Vermonters should show up. Tell your friends and bring the checkbook. Help preserve some sweet east coast backcountry!

Show in Burlington tomorrow night. http://www.skitheeast.net/posts/id/1...on-backcountry

How about taking the show on the road to the rest of the Northeast? The rest of us would love this show and would do well to raise awareness of the cause and bc skiing in general.

No photos were available of the bolton BC they're trying to save?

Originally Posted by samthaman

No photos were available of the bolton BC they're trying to save?

This is my concern as well. If there is a Bolton fund raising event then the parties putting on a show should at least ski Bolton.

Can anyone clearly tell me what's at issue with the Bolton BC? I keep hearing "land access" but I don't understand it.

I've poured over the documents at the VLT's website, and i really just can't figure out why we need to block the possible transaction of private land between two private individuals.

They claim there's environmental concerns, but Act 250 in VT is a great law, and does a great job at keeping development well controlled in sensitive areas such as this parcel. So I don't see a clear and present danger to the environment if the land is sold to someone new.

So with environmental concerns ruled out, there's simply land access issues left, which at this time I believe are only imagined, not clear and present. Either way, currently the land in questions is already private land that requires a pass to access (including the Catamount trail that passes through it). So are we trying to preserve this land as paid-access land forever? Or are we trying to make this free-access land forever?

If we're aiming to keep it paid-access land forever, who will run this business? The VLT? Friends of Bolton? VT State Forest Dept. (I believe this is the likely answer)? Who? What? Where? Why? When? If it's the VT State Forest, will they be able to harvest the new land for timber according to the same rules that govern existing VT State Forests (including the Mansfield State Forest)? Or is that off limits?

If we're aiming to make it free-access land, who (if anyone) will continue to maintain the extensive nordic trail network? Will it still be groomed?

i hate to be crass, but if the primary goal is preserving a few miles of the pseudo-public Catamount Trail, 1.85 million dollars seems like a HUGE price tag. :/

Someone please explain to me. I'd love to get this figured out and get behind this issue. Till then color me unsure.