Over the last three years, the Center has been working with the Lancaster Conservation Commission to improve the Town Forest as a recreational asset for residents while ensuring that the vast wetlands in the area remain undisturbed.  

This fall the project moves out of the planning phase and into trail building, with two scheduled trail workshops in October. “The town wants to make it easier for residents to get into the Town Forest by providing better access and to create new trail options,” said Center Program Director Julie Renaud Evans.  

“At the same time, the Conservation Commission wants to take good care of the natural communities including wetlands that are in and around the forest,” she said. “These wetlands help to reduce potential flooding from extreme weather because the outflow brook goes through a neighborhood.” 

The Town Forest is located just 1 mile from Lancaster’s Main Street, so has potential to provide residents with easy access for outdoor recreation.  

The Center and the Conservation Commission invested in wetlands mapping, an ecological assessment, and contracted for digital technology to assess the unique ecological features of the forest and the suitability of the terrain for the proposed trails.  

Whiteout Solutions from St. Johnsbury, Vermont, used drones and remote sensing to map the terrain and the forest, and an ecologist identified special natural communities that the trail work needed to avoid. See digital mapping related to the Lancaster project. 

Following these assessments, the Center engaged the Appalachian Mountain Club to design trails within the Town Forest.  “This is a unique and special area in terms of natural and complex ecological communities, to open the area to more recreation required thoughtful planning to balance these uses,” said Renaud Evans.   

Alex DeLucia, trails director for the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) has been working with the Center and a volunteer committee of Lancaster residents to develop proposed trail locations and access points.  The AMC designed a new trail loop about two miles long, most of which follows existing skid trails from past wood harvests; there is also a connecting piece of less than ½ mile that will require new construction.   

On Oct. 14 and Oct. 21, the AMC Trail Crew will run workshops to train volunteers in trail building and maintenance. One of the workshop days will focus on cleaning up the legal access from Paige Hill Road to the northern end of the Town Forest. 

“We’re delighted to be teaming up with AMC to do the trail building workshops,” said Renaud Evans. “We’re hoping for a good turn-out on both days so Lancaster can expand its capacity to build and maintain trails.