Northern Vermont University offers new certificate in sustainable trail-building

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - If you love hiking Vermont’s trails, you have the people who built them to thank for the experience.

Now, a new program aims to educate Vermont students on how to build trails. It’s called the Sustainable Trail Building Certificate.

Northern Vermont University is offering the program in collaboration with the Northwoods Stewardship Center starting this September.

NVU says it stems from a $1 million grant the school got from the Northern Border Regional Commission to focus on workforce development.

And they say there’s a growing demand for qualified trail workers.

“This program will encourage people to learn best practices and building, maintaining planning and managing trail corridors that connect people to natural, cultural and historical places,” said Ann Nygard of Northern Vermont University.

The program is a yearlong certificate involving part-time studying and a hybrid of online and hands-on learning. Click here for all the details.

Watch the video to see our Cat Viglienzoni’s full conversation with Ann Nygard about the program.

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