 What does it mean to be a steward to a watershed? And how do we begin to cultivate in our young people a sense of connection to place? Finally, at what point does a love for the natural world translate into taking actions to protect it? These are the big thoughts that I contemplate while reflecting back on my time spent in our local schools this fall. As the Education Manager for Friends of the Mad River, I have the distinct pleasure of working with all of the local schools that fall within the boundaries of our watershed. Each school year finds me working with the children of our community, from 3- and 4-year olds in our preschools, all the way to those high school seniors preparing to set off into the world. Our education programs are tailored towards understanding our watershed, our local ecology, and the ways that climate change is impacting our way of life. Whether studying erosion, habitat, riparian zones, or animal hibernation patterns, students are engaging in highly meaningful and relevant explorations of the world around them. Beyond these studies, though, there are underlying values and habits of mind that are cultivated by spending time in connection with the natural world. Students learn about themselves in relationship to the various communities of which they are a part, human and otherwise. They learn about the threats facing our wild places, and what local people can do to fight back. They come to see themselves as “agents of change”, and they recognize their potential to have a positive impact on the world around them. In short, they become the type of community members, citizens, and stewards that our world so desperately needs as we transition into an uncertain future. And there is also fun. There are games, challenges, and countless other opportunities to find joy in digging hands in soil, hiding in bushes, or staring at tree tops. With younger schoolkids, there are so many giggles, hands being held, and smiles as we share these moments in nature. I love this aspect of my work; it is hard to feel embittered or curmudgeonly when you are surrounded by the joy and wonder of youth. As students age, you begin to get a sense of their personalities, passions, and capabilities. There is a key transition that occurs as, after years of having their world shaped by the education they have received, they begin to be the ones shaping the world around them. Based upon what I am seeing in our local schools, we will be fortunate to have some of these young people leading the charge into the future. It’s a bit of a tonic given the doom and gloom of news cycles, politics, or the myriad other maladies of the world.  Moretown First and Second Graders Culminate Flood Resilience Unit with Tree Planting Along Doctor’s Brook On a crisp fall morning in late October, first and second graders from the classrooms of Natessa Cournoyer and Sarah Thompson at Moretown Elementary School planted trees along the banks of Doctor’s Brook. With an abundance of energy and a sense of importance, these young stewards helped to restore a riparian buffer along the turbulent brook, which has flooded numerous times over the past few years. Working in groups of two or three, they helped one another to prepare the sites for the trees, with an awareness that their efforts would help to stabilize the streambanks, preventing further erosion and ensuring better water quality downstream. This incredible day of service came as the culmination of a unit of study focused on erosion and flood resilience, which the students had been engaged with since the beginning of the year. Each week found the students engaging in learning activities along Doctor’s Brook, down on the main stem of the Mad River, and in the forest surrounding the school. Students learned about everything from erosion to invasive species, and even had the opportunity to recreate the history of the development of the Mad River using stream tables. These lessons came about as a partnership between Cournoyer, Thompson, and Luke Foley, Education Manager with Friends of the Mad River.  HCLC Students Engage in Community Science at the Rec Hub in Waitsfield
Just upstream, students from Harwood Union’s HCLC Program are engaging in a long term study of the Rec Hub, a vibrant recreation and conservation asset in Waitsfield. The Rec Hub is the result of countless community organizations partnering to bring a VOREC grant, and the Conservation and Recreation Visioning process, to the Valley. As a part of this process, volunteers, including students from HCLC, worked to plant 400 trees along the banks of Mill Brook. Now, students from HCLC are looking at the efficacy of those plantings, with studies focused on everything from biodiversity, to carbon sequestration, to how the Rec Hub impacts animal behaviors. Led by HCLC teachers Beth Gravelle and Paul Kramer, this long term partnership with Friends of the Mad River, has been taking place over the past two school years. Each visit to the site presents an opportunity for students to better understand the riparian ecosystem and how it is shaped by restoration. Last year, students identified and catalogued tree species, investigated plant biodiversity, and did a spring migratorial bird count. This fall, the project continued with topography and soil studies, carbon sequestration calculations, and a study of how animals are using the plant communities in the study area. Looking forward, students will participate in winter tracking activities, and will take a closer look at spring ephemeral plant species, benthic macroinvertebrates and pollinators once the snow melts. As HCLC teacher, Beth Gravelle, commented, " The near term goal of HCLC's partnership with Friends of the Mad River is to give students experience doing science in context, rather than learning about science from a textbook. By learning first hand from experience, and spending time at our site, my hope is that students will develop a deeper relationship with the landscape that surrounds them."  "The whole getup makes me grateful for living somewhere with a culture that resists efficiency, that has a human scale, where people make the most of what they have...(We) trade efficiency for relationship, for an innate sense of reciprocity with land, animals, and people." - Helen Whybrow, The Salt Stones By: Luke Foley, Education and Outreach Manager These past couple of months have made it pretty easy to feel overwhelmed. The world, with all of its crises and challenges, can create a lot of distress. It can sometimes feel like we don't even know where to begin in addressing all of the maladies of the world around us. This month, Friends has hosted a number of events focused on addressing these feelings. We've partnered with activist athletes, local authors, and eco-therapists with the intention of unlocking the ways in which we can all be more personally resilient. In turn, each of our own resiliencies adds to a greater community resilience. We've learned to slow down, connect with our neighbors, and live in reciprocity with this wonderful landscape that we call home. Climb It For Climate participants enjoyed a lovely fall hike up Lincoln Peak, and then were treated to an incredible talk by POW ambassador, Carolina Rubio MacWright. All photos by Luke Foley On Sunday, October 12, we co-hosted our third Climb It For Climate event in partnership with the Mad River Backcountry Coalition (MRVBC), and with sponsorship from Sugarbush and Protect Our Winters (POW). Following a lovely hike and talk up Lincoln Peak, we invited POW ambassador Carolina Rubio MacWright to speak about how we can pair our personal passions with our activist ideals. Carolina is an immigrant, a lawyer, a non-profit founder, and an ultrarunner. She shared stories of the intersectionality of her many identities, and how she leverages her skills and interests to address social justice issues in our world. Whether providing critical supplies to refugees at the US-Mexico border, teaching new Americans their rights with ice cream, or using pottery to help foster community, there is a common thread of creativity and positive energy. Most recently, Carolina has been using her love of running to connect immigrants and refugees with running club mentors in New York City. Her program, "Touching Land", helps them to navigate not only the challenges of training for a 5k or half marathon, but also the realities of living in a society that has grown increasingly unaccepting of people from different places and different races. Carolina challenged us to look into our hearts, and to think differently about the scale of where change actually happens. In a great big world, it's easy to feel small. However, if each one of us does our part to make our community a better place- a more welcoming and climate-friendly place- we all move the needle on a global scale.  We had a full house for the Climate and Ecology book discussion of The Salt Stones, by Helen Whybrow. Photo Courtesy of Beth Schoellkopf. Our next event brought us into conversation with author Helen Whybrow, co-founder of Knoll Farm along with her husband, Peter Forbes. Many participants had read her book, The Salt Stones, and came prepared with passages and prompts that had us all reflecting and conversing about living a life close to the land. The riveting conversation led us down many paths, asking us what it means to be present in place, and to truly feel a sense of belonging. The talk with Helen not only gave the audience a chance to share their favorite parts of the book, but also to hear Helen's reflections on some of the key themes and patterns from her stories. Her book is an invitation to slow down, to pay close attention, and to recognize the joyous beauty each and every day. She calls upon us to feel our fingers in the dirt, to walk barefoot in the grass, or to take a dip in icy waters. The Salt Stones is a beautiful collection of stories centered around a pastoral life of raising sheep, working the land, and growing community. It is a tribute to life, and death, as it explores the seasons of life, and how we can learn from the process of saying goodbye to those that we love. The book calls upon us to cultivate a compassion for the natural world, for the people who grow our food, for the communities that make us whole, and for the interconnectedness that is found in nature.  Maia Kiley, licensed psychotherapist and member of the Climate Psychologist Alliance, led a wonderful discussion on climate distress and how we can build more personal and community resilience. Next, we were so fortunate to host Maya Kylie, a licensed eco-therapist with a focus on climate distress. This event was co-hosted with the Mad River Valley Libraries, following the Vermont Reads novel choice of The Light Pirate, by Lily Brooks-Dalton. In discussing the book with the local librarians, we recognized the heaviness of the book, and how its themes might be triggering for some community members. As a result, we decided that an event that provides us with an opportunity to learn about climate distress, while also connecting with other community members who share similar concerns, would provide a wonderful opportunity for us all to connect and emote. In our time together, Maia challenged us to think about the ways in which these heavy emotions serve us, and what it says about our empathy and compassion that we feel them. We also learned how they can hamper us, especially if these emotions become a burden that we carry as individuals and struggle to meaningfully share with others. We were invited to think about how we might be more proactive in finding a community that allows us to grieve, to hold space for one another, and to hear one another's stories. Maya helped us to understand how we can take action, simply by listening and sharing with one another. In doing so, we can create a deeper understanding of ourselves and others. We were challenged to work towards building compassion for others, but also for ourselves, so that we can all collectively unite in a process of trying to make meaning of the world that we live in, and to find purpose in the actions that we take.  If there is one thing that all of these events have in common, it's the recognition of the value of community and of living in reciprocity. There is a necessity for each and every one of us to find and feel connection to humans, to other beings, to place, to values, and to causes. We must see ourselves in the work that we do, in order to bring meaning to each day. So, whether you find yourself lacing up running shoes to hit the trails, working with animals or the land, or leading conversations around the emotions that burden us all, the imperative piece is that you take action. It is these actions that require us to use our bodies, our minds, our hearts, and our souls in ways that bring us all closer together and closer to ourselves.
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Friendsof the Mad River Archives
November 2025
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