Welcome To Our New Newsletter!
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Greetings everyone!
Welcome to the November issue of the Vermont State Parks newsletter. This is our time here at Vermont State Parks to take a breath, reflect on the past summer operating season and start to make plans for changes and other preparations for next year. Yes, it all begins already! We are hard at work digesting your comments and suggestions as well as those from our staff. It is how we are able to stay relevant and welcoming to you, so thank you to all who have given us the benefit of your opinions. We are constantly considering ways to make us better and your input helps a lot.
As you might have noticed when you were here last summer, this was a very busy year for us. This is only the sixth time in the 94-year history of the state park system that we have exceeded 1 million visits! That’s a lot of fun, relaxation, reflection, and connection to nature happening in your state parks. Hats off to you, our visitors, for coming, our park staff for providing the help, security and other great service, our maintenance staff for holding it all together and our interpreters for inspiring our connection to the natural world. That’s what it takes to make a successful park season. Thank you all!
Now, after you have finished reading this newsletter, head right outside and enjoy this particularly nice time of year for hiking, biking, running or just relaxing in your favorite park.
See you out there!
Craig Whipple,
Director of State Parks
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Be the One to Give the Coolest Gift Under the Tree this Holiday Season
Want to give something really fun to your friends and family to show your love for them and your love for Vermont?
Gifts from Vermont State Parks do just that.
When you give a gift from Vermont State Parks you're really giving the gift of relaxation, rejuvenation, adventure and memorable time spent with family and friends.
Give something authentic, meaningful and good for you, for the parks and of course the lucky recipients.
There is something for every budget. Try some of these:
Gift Certificates in any denomination
Park season passes or punch cards
Ready-to-give holiday packages
Vermont State Parks mugs, hats t-shirts
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Burton Island State Park to Stay Open Through September in 2019
Everyone loves
Burton Island State Park
and now there is a longer season to enjoy it! Septembers are warmer than they used to be and late summer is an excellent time to be out on Lake Champlain. So, starting in 2019 Burton Island State Park will remain open through the month of September. The ferry will operate on a modified schedule and wood and ice will still be available to purchase.
If you've been trying to snag one of the very popular waterfront lean-to's and haven't had much luck, now is your chance!
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More Parks to Have Extended Seasons in 2019
With over 1 million visits in 2018 the parks are popular places. To help serve you better, several of our parks will have extended seasons in 2019.
All the parks will be open a week longer in 2019 due to the late Columbus/Indigenous Peoples Day holiday.
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Friendly Neighborhood Chickadees
Last weekend my seven-year-old daughter Alice helped me put out the bird feeders for the winter season. We were met with very curious and eager Black Capped Chickadees flitting all around us. Alice was thrilled when these little black and white birds began eating from her hand.
Chickadees are a familiar sight at the bird feeders outside our windows during winter months, they perch in the ornamental crab apple trees and we call out the windows to wish them a good morning and happy breakfast as they grab seeds from our multiple feeders on winter mornings.
Chickadees are hardy year-round residents in the Vermont woods. All our migratory birds have departed for warmer winter climates, and chickadees have instead formed their winter flocks and found tree cavities for shelter. Chickadees prefer tree cavities over nesting boxes during cold clear winter nights when the stars shine brightly through thin cold air.
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Flocks of these curious, acrobatic birds develop their own specific calls, and the calls they use have patterns with similarities to human language characteristics. The familiar chickadee-dee-dee call is normally used as an alarm call for a stationary predator. Chickadees are small but brave, and they will be the first to come together and mob a predator so that traditional alarm call comes in handy when calling in their flock to mob a perching owl. These chickadee mobs will soon be joined by nuthatches, and other small birds. In many numbers, these small songbirds can deter even the largest predator.
In winter the chickadee diet is about half seeds, berries, and other plant material and about half animal food such as any insects they can find, and little pieces of meat and fat from frozen animal carcasses. It takes a flexible diet to survive winter in the Vermont woods. You can help feed chickadees and enjoy watching them by installing your own bird feeder. They love black oil sunflower seeds and suet feeders.
Chickadees thrive in edge habitats and any mixed forest type, so feeders in the yard are usually in their ideal habitat. After filling our feeders, Alice and I ventured out in the woods together for a little deer hunting adventure. As we sat in silence watching and listening, a flock of curious chickadees descended around us and one of them landed right on my shoulder.
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We saw chickadees in our yard and in a nearby Wildlife Management Area while we were hunting, and you can also find them in every state park around Vermont.
Gifford Woods
,
Woodford
,
Knight Point
, and
New Discovery
State Parks are some of my favorites for wintertime walks and wildlife viewing. You will see chickadees and so much more.
"In Walden wood the chickadee
Runs round the pine and maple tree
Intent on insect slaughter:
O tufted entomologist!
Devour as many as you list,
Then drink in Walden water."
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Fragments on Nature and Life
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Using the Parks in the
Off-Season
Have fun out there!
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2019 Vehicle Season Passes are Here!
Want to have an entire summer of fun in every Vermont State Park? Then may we suggest a Vehicle Season Pass? Each pass permits up to 8 people in one vehicle entry into any Vermont State Park Day Use Area all season long! Passes are $90 and can be ordered online.
Individual passes ($30) and 10-visit punch passes are also available.
Order online.
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Vermont Parks Forever Would Like to Thank our 2018 Business Partners
And, an additional very special thank you to those businesses supporting us at the Benefactor level!
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Featured Photographer
Tiffany Soukup and her husband Chris Brader are the swiss army knives of park staff. They've done it all -- VYCC at Elmore State Park, Innkeepers at Seyon Lodge and most recently Park Managers at Townshend State Park. Oh yeah, and they're also world travellers and adventure bloggers! You've probably seen her work before on the parks' website and social media feeds. Tiffany took this edition's cover photo of fat biking at
Seyon Lodge State Park
. This winter Tiffany and Chris are exploring Central America. You can follow their travels at
vagabondway.com
or say hello to them when they return to Townshend State Park this spring.
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Thank you for reading the official newsletter of Vermont State Parks!
Vermont State Parks | 1 (888) 409-7579 |
anr.parks@vermont.gov |
www.vtstateparks.com
"Cause a little bit of summer is what the whole year is about." John Mayer
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