From age 2 to 82, people love the new boardwalk and trail off the Whipple Road in West Rutland. Most, however, wonder at its origin, since the kiosk in the parking lot currently lacks information and publicity for its construction came out last June, when the project was just beginning.
In 2019, Rutland County Audubon Society and the Town of West Rutland collaborated on and received a grant from the Recreational Trails Program, a state-administered fund, to construct Phase 2 of a three-part trail, envisioned by Rutland County Audubon members to enable them to monitor marsh birds without traveling on the busy Whipple Road. Phase 1 had been built with a Wetland Funds grant the previous year in an adjacent meadow and lowland just south of the newest phase.
COVID -19 intervened and construction on Phase 2 did not begin until June of 2021, at which time Rutland County Audubon and West Rutland hired the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps to construct the two-part boardwalk through a cedar and hemlock swamp. National Audubon provided a collaborative grant for equipment with which to build the trail. After over five weeks of labor in intense humidity the VYCC completed this project. The Town of West Rutland put in a parking lot and Stafford Technical School's construction class built a sturdy kiosk which will soon provide information about the new trail. Rutland County Audubon continues to add improvements to either end of the trail including trail markers and a rope railing for the boardwalk.
For any who haven't walked this trail, you can find the parking area on the east side of Whipple Hollow Road in West Rutland, about half-way between Water Street and Pleasant Street. You can also watch for Phase 3 of this project in 2023.