Pride Hike comes to Hinesburg forest

Pride Hikes have occurred monthly since June 2018 and are welcoming to everyone – creating a safe, affirming space for LGBTQIA+ community members.

The next event will take place at the Hinesburg Town Forest on Sunday, March 8, from 12:30-3 p.m.

Attendees can tour an active timber harvest with Chittenden County Forester Ethan Tapper, walk the timber harvest area and talk about forests, forest management, birds and forest ecology.

In addition to Trapper, the hike will be lead by Gwendolyn Causer, teacher and naturalist with Audubon Vermont, and Anne Moyerbrailean, SafeSpace anti-violence coordinator at the Pride Center of Vermont.

Co-hosted by the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, the hikes are a collaboration between Audubon Vermont, the Pride Center of Vermont and Outright Vermont.

All ages, allies and families are welcome. Youth under 18 years should be accompanied by a parent/guardian.

“Throughout our lives, many of us have been inundated with negative information about logging – close your eyes and you can probably picture big clear cuts, mudslides and more scenes of environmental devastation,” Tapper said. “However, modern forest management is worlds apart from the logging that most people have been exposed to. Done well, forest management can be restorative and regenerative, creating more diverse, vibrant, resilient forests with better bird and wildlife habitat while producing a local, renewable resource.”

The Hinesburg Town Forest is 864-acres, owned by the Town of Hinesburg and managed for wildlife, recreation, water, air, carbon sequestration and as a site for the demonstration of modern, responsible forest management since 1936.

Tapper reports that one the goals of its active management plan is to promote, in an open, transparent and inclusive way, a greater understanding of what healthy forests and good forest management looks like.

“It can also be a force for good in our local and global communities,” added Tapper. “By helping producing local resources and economic benefits (rather than displacing the impact of our resource production to other parts of the country or the world), and allowing landowners to making a little income from their land (helping keeps forests forested and making it more affordable to own land), forest management can be a force for social, economic and environmental justice and equity, both here in Vermont and across the world.”

The walk will take place “rain, snow, mud or shine.” Organizers say participants should be ready to spend a couple hours outdoors walking over uneven and potentially slippery surfaces, spending periods of time standing and talking. Dogs are welcome if they are leashed. Warm layers are advised and, perhaps, a thermos of tea. Some of the walk will be off trail.

For more information about accessibility, contact Audubon Vermont at gcauser@audubon.org.

To carpool, meet at 12:30 p.m. in the Shaw’s/Starbucks parking lot at 570 Shelburne Road, in South Burlington.

To meet at the trailhead - the plow turnaround at the end of Economou Road, Huntington. The carpoolers should arrive there by 1 p.m.

Organizers note, “If you plug ‘Hinesburg Town Forest’ into your GPS, it will take you to a different location. So, instead, use ‘Economou Road’ and proceed to the cul de sac at the end of the road. Please let us know ahead of time if you plan to meet us at the trailhead by emailing gcauser@audubon.org.”