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CVTA Strategic Plan 2021 - 2027

Progress during 2021 - 2025: We have made great progress in the first five years of our plan - building miles of new trail including a 200 foot long bridge over the Winooski River, saving and improving many more miles of the old Montpelier & Wells River Rail Trail, providing clear accessible information to all trail users online and with extensive new signage, and being active in our local communities statewide. All while continuing to build up our organization to be a reliable partner capable of maintaining the trail into the future.

Updated for 2026 - 2027: In the next two years we are doubling down on our essential goals - finishing construction all the way across East Montpelier of the remainder of the Winooski Bridge project and collaborating with landowners to secure permission to create new off road trail.

Mission and Vision

OUR MISSION is to create and maintain a multi-use trail across Vermont through the Winooski and Wells River Valleys between Lake Champlain and the Connecticut River.

OUR VISION is:

• Public recreation that is inviting and accessible to all people.
• Safe off-road travel to desired destinations for walkers, cyclists, skiers and others.
• Convenient locations for daily exercise and healthy outdoor activity.
• Permanent greenway for easy local access to the natural world.
• Collaboration of landowners, community groups and local governments to foster regional networks with the Cross Vermont Trail as the connection among them.

Strategic Goals

GOAL 1: Increase off-road mileage of the eastern, central, and western regions of the 90-mile Cross Vermont Trail.

STRATEGIES

1. Build the complete Winooski Bridge Project including five miles of new trail between Gallison Hill Road in Montpelier and Rte 14 in East Montpelier.
2. Collaborate with landowners to determine the best trail alignment between Rte 14 in East Montpelier and Groton State Forest in Marshfield; securing right-of-way permissions to get the Cross Vermont Trail off ten miles of Rte 2.
3. Identify and prioritize future CVTA-led projects emphasizing useful lengths of new off road trail, with logical trailheads, that separate trail use from the least safe and least desirable on road locations.
4. Pursue a regional approach to expand our efforts, in locally appropriate ways, statewide throughout the trail route and connected network.
5. Prepare to meet our long term obligations to maintain trail and steward land as we succeed in building new trail and conserving right-of-way.

GOAL 2: Expand the visibility of our trail, our vision, and the work of our organization to engage users, partners and funders.

STRATEGIES

1. Publicize our stories with accessible media and clear graphic style so we are recognized for the work we do in communities across the state.
2. Maintain, and keep updated, signage and wayfinding guides enabling people to find trailheads and follow the Cross Vermont Trail between Lake Champlain and the Connecticut River.
3. Engage the public in using and valuing each segment of the Winooski Bridge Project, totaling five miles of new trail, as each segment is built and opened in well explained sequential phases.

GOAL 3: Build capacity to be a sustainable and resilient organization capable of completing and stewarding the vision of the trail.

STRATEGIES

1. Be a professionaly operated organization with one regular employee and flexibility to augment staff with seasonal hires, contractors, partnerships and trained volunteers.
2. Recruit proactive, committed Board members with a variety of relevant skills, experience, and regional representation. Engage additional non-Board volunteers to be involved in committees or local advocacy to advance CVTA's strategic goals. Support Board in carrying out its responsibilities by developing useful structures including active committees and online collaboration tools.
3. Utilize multi-year project financial planning that aligns with strategic priorities, organizational growth and stewardship responsibilities.
4. Ennable our work by fundraising from diversified sources including appeal for annual donations, grants, charitable gifts, sponsorships, and events, with formal donor cultivation.

GOAL 4: Leverage partnerships to build the trail, strengthen the regional trail network and increase community vitality.

STRATEGIES

1. Expand partnerships as a way to leverage shared capacity to achieve our mission and to support partners with co-aligned missions.
2. Strengthen partnerships in Chittenden County by carrying out joint advocacy and collaborative trail work. Convene with partners in order to explore and identify the best current options for the route of the Cross Vermont Trail through this region.
3. Engage in partnerships with businesses and civic organizations that benefit from proximity and access to outdoor recreation.

OUR PLANNING PROCESS

In 2021 CVTA Board and Staff carried out an intense internal and external assessment. We came out of that with a strong sense of what is most important to further our mission into this decade. In 2026 we updated the plan to reflect five years of steady progess, even in the face of significant unexpected challenges such as repeated historic flooding, and recommitted to our established goals.

Partnering is an essential part of who we are. Making the plan and implementing it has included collaborations with many landowners, conservation organizations, towns, State agencies, Regional Planning Commissions, donors and supporters, local businesses, and our many peers in the world of trail clubs.

Regional approaches are important in how we are creating the statewide trail. Local needs guide the balance of roles we pursue in each place we work.

The Eastern region from Wells River to Groton ties together small towns in scenic rural settings, including Groton State Forest. CVTA is an active leader in helping to save the Montpelier & Wells River railbed as a trail where possible, and in developing new trails where needed.

In the Central region from Marshfield to Waterbury much of the potential trail route is privately owned. As elsewhere, here we engage in collaborative approaches with landowners and local towns.

The Western region from Bolton to Burlington is a more developed area that has a broad array of existing trails and bike paths with active community groups and municipalities. As we look to the future of our route within this mix, we will expand our contributions as a partner, advocate, and convener.

Capacity building underlies all of this plan's thinking. Expanding our capabilities makes us ready to take on the real, growing needs facing CVTA. Our accomplishments to date are remarkable in light of an extremely lean organization. Looking ahead, this plan will enable us to develop financial resources to incrementally grow to a right size. Our mission calls us to think well beyond any one five year plan. Building relationships and developing projects are long term efforts. We are making a Cross Vermont Trail Association that is fit to be passed on to future generations.

Thank you to all who continue to contribute to our thinking about the future. We invite you to join us in putting this plan to work!