Shelburne Receives HCI Grant for Trail Map

Map Helps Residents and Tourists Access Area Beauty

(10/13/09) Residents and tourists come to the Shelburne Falls Area for recreation and to enjoy the serenity and beauty of the countryside. Now, thanks to a new Trail Map developed by the Shelburne Open Space Committee, access to those areas is safer and easier.

The Town of Shelburne has received a grant from the Highland Communities Initiative for the publication of the Trail Map. Earlier this summer, the Open Space Committee produced a draft trail map showing trails in town with public access. The map was duplicated and hundreds of copies were distributed at the Village Information Center to residents and tourists interested in hiking within the town. 

Trails shown include access to the Mt. Massaemett Stone Fire Tower, High Ledges, the Ridge Trail and the Mahican-Mohawk Trail along the Deerfield River.

The $1500 grant will be used to publish and distribute a final map based on user feedback. Funds are also included to install signs along the trails demarking public and private property.

The guide map, produced with the assistance of private landowners who kindly grant the public access over their lands, includes 'rules of etiquette' for hikers such as keeping to the trail, packing out trash and respecting the rights of private landowners and their fences and gates.

The Committee hopes the project will serve as a model which other area towns will use to develop similar maps of other trails in the area. This would be a valuable resource for the Visitor Center and area businesses. The committee expects to make the free maps available in the Visitor Center, in local businesses and to post it on the shelburnefalls.com Website.