Over $830k in state recreation grants include funds for Waterbury’s Perry Hill trails

July 16, 2025  |  By Lisa Scagliotti

Waterbury's mountain bike trails are a local recreational attraction. Courtesy photo

The state of Vermont recently announced grant awards of more than $830,000 administered by the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation to be used for the development and restoration of trails across Vermont. 

Four municipalities and 17 nonprofit organizations are on the list of recipients of Recreational Trails Program funding that comes from the Federal Highway Administration, according to the state announcement. 

Among the grantees is the Vermont Mountain Bike Association which will receive $110,134 to in turn distribute to several of its member chapters, including the local Waterbury Area Trails Alliance.

Bike association Executive Director Nick Bennette said WATA’s share will be just over $25,000 to put toward repairs to trails that have been impacted by storm damage to make them more climate resilient. “The work will commence with a professional assessment this fall, followed by up to 3,200 ft. of targeted water management and trail tread upgrades,” Bennett said. “This section of the network has been the biggest challenge in terms of remaining open amidst wetter summers and increasing traffic, and the [grant] award will go a long way towards making Perry an even better place to ride!”

Improvements to some of the key stretches of the Perry Hill network are needed after they have sustained heavier than usual wear and tear given storm damage in 2023 and 2024. The Waterbury town Select Board late last year approved allocating $7,000 of new local option tax revenue to WATA for the work needed on the Perry Hill trails, acknowledging the importance of the recreational trail network to the local economy. WATA’s research shows that the free multi-use trail network gets about 15,000 visits annually, mostly from bikers, but also from hikers, skiers, etc. 

WATA trails manager Alex Showerman explained that this latest grant funding is just one piece of a wide work program to improve the popular trail network. 

For those familiar with the trails, the grant funding will be used to rebuild the trails known as Scotch and Red Tape. “Scotch Tape has been a constant problem area at Perry Hill, with little to no drainage and most of the trail fills with standing water in rain storms, leading to regular closures,” Showerman said. “This season, the upper trails opening was delayed almost a month due to this.”

The $25,000 state grant will cover half of an expected $50,000 rebuild in 2026 of this trail to modern sustainable standards with the goal of reducing the number of days it’s closed and protecting natural resources and water quality, Showerman explained. 

WATA is currently fundraising to raise the remaining $25,000 for this project, she said. 

The trail project planned for next year, together with recent work on Perry Hill, represents an investment of approximately $100,000 by the state, which owns the land, WATA as its steward, and the town, Showerman said. 

The climate-resilience projects are designed to make the trails hold up to wetter and more extreme weather. Another example was a $30,000 project by the state Forests, Parks and Recreation Department to cut down dead, hazardous trees last winter to help avoid potential damage from fallen trees due to high winds. “There has been widespread red pine die-off on the parcel due to red pine scale (a small invasive species) that created not only a safety hazard, but also was a ticking time bomb for a destructive wind event like what happened at Cady Hill in 2017,” Showerman explained, referring to wind damage that happened on recreational trails in Stowe. 

Lastly, a $32,000 project that used the recent town funding rebuilt the network’s Main and Campfire Climb trails, the routes to the easiest terrain on Perry Hill, Showerman said. 

“This was the section of trail hit hardest by the declared natural disaster storm last July with a number of washouts in key areas including a bridge,” she said. “The new climb is more resilient, as well as a true green climb (the old route had a hike-a-bike section in the middle of it), expanding access to Perry Hill to more folks.”

That construction also was done with an eye towards completing an accessible loop in the future. Additional funds for that work came from a grant from the Vermont Mountain Bike Association and WATA’s operating funds from memberships and donations, Showerman noted. 

The rest of the $110,000 Recreational Trails Program grant funding awarded to the Vermont Mountain Bike Association will be shared by Ludlow Area Sports Trails and Ridgeline Outdoor Collective for trail improvements, according to the grant announcement. 

The 2025 grant cycle was particularly competitive with 54 applications requesting a combined total of more than $5.3 million, state officials said.

Applications that will receive funding range from developing a paddler campsite on the Connecticut River Paddlers’ Trail to funding a two-day workshop focused on design and management of off-highway vehicle trails. Other projects include installing accessible trailhead amenities along the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail and repairing a suspension bridge in Starksboro that was damaged in the July 2024 flooding. 

See the full list of 2025 Recreational Trails Program grant recipients on the FPR Grant Program Impacts webpage.

The next grant round will be awarded in fall 2026. For more information on state trail funding programs, visit the state Forests, Parks and Recreation RTP webpage or email the Outdoor Recreation Grants Team at ANR.FPRRecreationGrants@vermont.gov.