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World Class View Vt.'s Moosalamoo Area Finalist for World Legacy Award |
| September 13, 2004 By ED BARNA Rutland Herald Correspondent reprinted with permission from Ed Barna and Rutland Herald Many Vermonters think the Green Mountain State is uniquely beautiful, and want to work to preserve its qualities. Conservation International and National Geographic Traveler think the Moosalamoo Region is world class, due in large part to the work of the nonprofit Moosalamoo Association's efforts to preserve and create better access to the upland area. The 30,000-acre tract eastward of Lake Dunmore, whose signature feature is Mt. Moosalamoo overlooking the lake, was named in May as one of 12 finalists for the World Legacy Awards, and one of only three in the category of Destination Stewardship. Ultimately, Moosalamoo and England's fossil-rich Jurassic Coast lost out to an Indonesian forested volcano with spectacular ocean views where the villagers work with and are supported by the visitors. But just to be a finalist was to be declared by judges to be in the same league as two of the finest African wildlife safaris, a unique Middle Eastern desert exploration-preservation effort, idyllic South Pacific and Caribbean island getaways, and the aboriginal company that helps people understand the sacred nature of Australia's most famous landmark, Uluru (Ayer's Rock). The award was good enough for Moosalamoo Association president Tony Clark, field director Bruce Brown and executive director Mary Jeanne Packer to be invited to the National Geographic Society's headquarters in Washington, D.C. for a gala ceremony in June hosted by Jordan's Queen Noor. "The Moosalamoo Region being named a finalist for a World Legacy Award is an acknowledgment of what an amazing resource the region is, as well as a good reminder that recreation and conservation can exist very well together," said Commissioner of Travel and Tourism Bruce Hyde. It all began back in 1989 because of the need for a good map, according to Bruce Brown, who is now the association's "field director," but back then was a state park manager. The U. S. Forest Service, the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, Blueberry Hill Inn in Goshen and the Churchill House Inn in Brandon all had their own maps of parts of the area, each with its own scale, he recalled. Central Vermont Public Service Corp., which generates hydroelectric power using Moosalamoo area water, provided a grant for a large, detailed map, which continues to be printed and distributed via visitor information points, Brown said. But after meeting to get everyone on the same page, as it were, the collaborators soon realized they had additional interests, and formed a loose alliance to help inform people about the region's resources. At first, the focus was just on education and interpretation, and the group was more promotional than it is now, Brown said. For example, the members of the association maintained a calendar of events like hikes, wildlife programs, and the lectures at Branbury State Park on Lake Dunmore, and sometimes members joined forces to buy advertising space. Then in 1999, Forest Service official Fred Putnam urged the group to take a more active role in improving the area, Brown said. There were things the Forest Service didn't have the budget or staff to do, but which a nonprofit organization could get grant funding to accomplish, he pointed out. So the Moosalamoo Association become a federally approved nonprofit corporation, and took on the stewardship responsibilities that in the end helped bring the award, Brown said. Inventorying, conservation planning, habitat enhancement, resource monitoring — in abstract terms— such were the new tasks. To take some specific examples, in 2003 the association used funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the National Forest Foundation to restore clearings in the forest (benefiting many wildlife species), keep brush from overwhelming the bountiful wild blueberry patches, open up and prune early settlers' abandoned apple orchards, do songbird counts, and check on the numbers of frogs, toads and salamanders. But that only begins to suggest the resources of the Moosalamoo Region. It has no major tourist attraction, but offers a wide spectrum of opportunities to those with particular interests. Distributed around the 30,000 acres are: |
- Cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, on the trails that link the Blueberry Hill Ski Center and the Churchill House Inn, and at the Rikert Ski Touring Center in Ripton. |
| For those online, www.moosalamoo.com will provide additional details, as well as a map of the driving tour, if no other map of it can be found. Making sure these resources are used but not overused is now a goal for a large coalition of agencies, organizations and businesses. The map lists 12 Moosalamoo partners: Blueberry Hill Inn, Branbury State Park, Brandon Area Chamber of Commerce, Camp Thorpe, Catamount Trail Association, Green Mountain Club, Green Mountain National Forest, Judith's Garden Bed & Breakfast, Lake Dunmore/Fern Lake Association, Addison County Chamber of Commerce, Spirit in Nature, and Waterhouse's Campground & Marina, but others join in from time to time. For example, Brown said, every year some of Middlebury College's incoming class do service work in the highlands as part of their orientation. The Vermont Youth Conservation Corps has done work there as well as running Branbury State Park, he said. Vermont seems to be particularly fertile ground for such partnerships. While there was wide publicity for the National Trust for Historic Preservation's contention this year that Vermont is one of the most endangered historic areas in the country, that was counterbalanced by a more positive ranking by National Geographic Explorer in March, as part of its Index of Destination Stewardship. It might not seem impressive that Vermont came in 11th (by Hyde's count) among 115 destinations. But its rating of 74 (70 or more was "good") bested such world-class destinations as Italy's Tuscany (71), France's Loire Valley (69), England's Cotswolds (67), the Galapagos Islands (67), Peru's Machu Picchu (66), Costa Rica (64), Tanzania's Serengeti wildlife preserve (63), Indonesia's Borobudur (61), the Great Wall of China (59), Bali (58), the Pyramids (52), the Acropolis (51), and Bethlehem (48). Hyde said, "Both of these (National Geographic) acknowledgments show that Vermont has successfully been able to actively promote recreation and tourism, while at the same time maintaining its cultural and ecological integrity and those things which make Vermont such a special place." The Moosalamoo Recreation Area is several miles east of downtown Brandon. Pick up a map of the Recreation Area at Brandon's Information Booth (corner of Route 7 and Park St.) or request one from the Brandon Area Chamber of Commerce |
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