Program Updates
Program Updates
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- Category: Community Vitality
The 2nd annual Northeast Kingdom (NEK) Day took over the Vermont State House Jan. 28 as more than 150 people traveled to Montpelier to celebrate and share their successes and priorities for the Northeast Kingdom.
Center Vice President Joe Short joined the crowd and testified before the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs about the impact and importance of state support for regional marketing, the working lands economy and other strategies to attract and retain new residents and businesses in rural Vermont.
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- Category: Program Updates
The Northern Forest Center is delighted to announce that Carrabassett Valley Trails has joined the Borderlands mountain biking collaborative, expanding the number of Borderlands trail networks to eight.
The Borderlands initiative helps create and promote quality mountain biking experiences in eight communities across northern New Hampshire, western Maine, southern Quebec, and northeastern Vermont. It helps revitalize communities by creating new recreation opportunities for residents, attracting more visitors to support local businesses, and gaining positive attention for the region.
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- Category: Community Vitality
The N.H. Land and Community Investment Program has awarded $176,000 to the Northern Forest Center to support its renovation of the historic 11,000-square-foot Parker J. Noyes building in Lancaster.
“We’re very grateful to the LCHIP board for supporting this ambitious project,” said Rob Riley, president of the Northern Forest Center. “We’re bringing back this historic gem to contribute to the vibrancy of Lancaster’s Main Street and economy.”
Beginning in the late 1800s, the building was home to Parker J. Noyes Pharmaceutical Company, which developed the sugar-coated pill and an automated machine to form, coat and cut tablets at the rate of 5,000 pills per hour. The company evolved into manufacturing animal feed and moved to another location in Lancaster in the 1980s, where its successor, Trividia, still operates.
The New Hampshire Preservation Alliance listed the Noyes building on its “Seven to Save” list in 2017 due to the building’s historical significance.
The Center is renovating the building to help position Lancaster as a hub for growth in the North Country, to attract and retain the next generation of families and leaders committed to creating a vibrant future for the town.
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- Category: Tourism
The Center helped Tupper Lake secure a $100,000-grant to support recreation planning and development through the Smart Growth grants from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
The goal of the project is to expand year-round recreation opportunities to support the tourism economy and create a framework that will help prioritize resources and position the community for future economic growth.
At a November public meeting held by the DEC in Tupper Lake, numerous local residents spoke about the need to create a more stable year-round economy in the community and give visitors more reasons and opportunities to visit in all seasons.
Key partners in this effort include grant recipient Town of Tupper Lake as well as the Village of Tupper Lake, the Wild Center, and others. This work will also capitalize on the Adirondack Community Recreation Alliance’s future place-based initiatives. The Alliance is a new, ad-hoc group dedicated to enhancing and developing new community-based recreation assets.