This 2025 Legislative Session, KT is teaming up with other amazing trail organizations through the
Vermont Trails & Greenway Council to advocate for
H.147, a bill to establish the Recreational Trails Compensation Study.
KT is a world-class trail system deeply intertwined with the local community. In 1994, it was Northeast Kingdom community members, private landowners, who banded together to develop the multi-use nonprofit trail network that now welcomes 100,000+ visitors and generates over $10,000,000 in annual direct spending for the Northeast Kingdom, a region with significant social and economic challenges.
KT’s 106 private landowners, neighbors after neighbors, who host our trails, know firsthand the positive economic, public health, and conservation benefits of communities investing in outdoor recreation. However, they do not receive compensation for their generosity. Stewardship organizations, such as KT, are prohibited from directly compensating host landowners, as it would compromise the landowner’s protection under the state’s liability statute.
Currently, over 70% of Vermont’s public-access trails are on private land and dependent on the benevolence of private landowners. With increased demand on our trail assets, these non-profit trail stewardship organizations face more and more challenges in retaining public access to vital trail corridors.
This question of how we develop an appropriate mechanism to recognize and incentivize private landowners will be a critical component of how we retain public access to Vermont’s trail system, and how VT remains a national leader in outdoor recreation.
Therefore, KT is advocating for H.147, a bill to establish the Recreational Trails Compensation Study Committee, a proposal that would analyze how to create a mechanism to recognize landowners that provide public access for trails. This proposal includes a localized outdoor recreation economic impact study to better understand the value across recreational activities and land ownership. This study is a vital investment in sustaining recreation on private land and supporting Vermont's $2.1B, almost 5% of the state’s GDP, outdoor recreation economy.
