Upper Valley, NH/VT
about
The Upper Valley Trails for Life partnership seeks to improve community health and quality of life in the Upper Valley region of Vermont and New Hampshire by increasing physical activity through year-round use of trails and other walking and biking routes. The project emphasizes promoting, protecting, and connecting the numerous trails in the community to increase use and awareness, conserve trails for the future, and create an integrated trail network. This project serves as a model for addressing the challenges facing rural communities interested in promoting active living, especially those located in regions with long, cold winters.
In an effort to increase awareness of the importance of physical activity to health, the partnership launched a Prescription for Physical Activity program in collaboration with Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, the major heath care facility in northern New England. To support this program and the patients who receive prescriptions for physical activity, Trails for Life developed an active living brochure explaining the benefits of physical activity, the desired amount of activity for good health, and ways to work activity into daily routines. The back panel of the brochure provides a form on which physicians can write an activity prescription. To support the prescription, the partnership prepared a waiting/exam room poster and published a guide to selected local trails to connect patients with nearby options for physical activity.
The partnership also has initiated lunch-hour outings on nearby trails for staff of Dartmouth College, sponsored the first Upper Valley Bike/Walk to Work Day, organized an annual Trails Day, and posted trail maps and information on its website. Working together to embrace the winter weather, the partnership has created a "Passport to Winter Fun" aimed at engaging youngsters and families in winter activity, developed and promoted the longest ice skating trail in the United States, and sponsored winter events to explore various types of outdoor sports. finally, the partnership has engaged in policy initiatives to develop trail master plans that include mountain biking access.
By the end of the project, the partnership envisions accessible trails connecting schools, workplaces, and community centers; walkable communities that rely on trails master plans to protect and connect trails when developments are proposed; health professionals as advocates for trails at the policy, political, and project levels; and Upper Valley residents who use, value, and speak on behalf of existing and potential trails.
The Upper Valley Trails Alliance is the lead organization in the partnership. Project partners include the National Park Service Rivers and Trails Program, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, town recreation departments, Dartmouth College, town conservation commissions and trails committees, state health departments, the Montshire Skating Club, the Upper Valley Land Trust, and other organizations and businesses.
our story
Inge Brown has long been an avid downhill skier, but with her job as Assistant Director of the Language Resource Center at Dartmouth College, she was challenged to include physical activity in her daily routine, especially during the Upper Valley's cold and snowy winters. Then Inge learned about the lunch-hour outings the Upper Valley Trails for Life partnership was offering in collaboration with Dartmouth's Health Awareness Program. When she saw outings that included an introduction to snowshoeing, she jumped at the opportunity. In Inge's words, "I was surprised to find it very easy – and of course tremendously enjoyable in the middle of winter. This is an activity I will pursue vigorously even when I become an octogenarian in eight years' time." Inge has since joined several lunch-hour outings and learned about nearby trails she can go back to on her own. "Walking trails in any season," she adds, "are nourishment for the spirit."
opportunities
The Upper Valley encompasses over 40 communities on both sides of the Connecticut River in central Vermont and New Hampshire. Four core communities in the Valley (Hanover and Lebanon, New Hampshire and Norwich and Hartford, Vermont) are served by the Trails for Life partnership. Half of the region's population lives in these four towns, and the two largest employers, Dartmouth College and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, are located there.
Residents of Upper Valley face several barriers to active living. The lack of infrastructure supportive of physical activity coupled with long distances between home and school or work is not conducive to commuting by foot or bike. The high housing costs and the small size of even the largest town force many residents to live some distance from the Upper Valley's largest employers. In addition, information about existing trails is dispersed among multiple towns and groups. finally, cold northern winters, while offering their own opportunities for physical activity, also pose both physical and psychological barriers to year-round active living.
In the future, the partnership will pursue the development of trail master plans on the community and regional levels, refine the "Passport to Winter Fun," prepare a winter trail guide aimed at adults and older youth, and expand the physician prescription program to additional medical practices, including family and pediatric clinics.
accomplishments
In Action
