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Public Post is a community reporting initiative using digital tools to report on cities and towns across Vermont.Public Post is the only resource that lets you browse and search documents across dozens of Vermont municipal websites in one place.Follow reporter Amy Kolb Noyes and #PublicPost on Twitter and read news from the Post below.

Nature Conservancy Boardwalk Makes Wild Orchids More Accessible

Eve Frankel
/
The Nature Conservancy in Vermont
Visitors to the new Eshqua Bog boardwalk photograph the wetland's unusual plants, such as the lady's slipper.

Eshqua Bog, in Hartland, is home to a variety of unique plants, including an impressive population of wild orchids such as the rare lady's slipper. Now it is also home to an environmentally sensitive, accessible boardwalk and a parking area built to help accommodate the thousands of naturalists that The Nature Conservancy says visit each year.

The Nature Conservancy in Vermontconstructed the 460 foot boardwalk, which includes multiple platforms where visitors can view the 40 acre sanctuary surrounding the eight acre wetland where the orchids thrive. The Eshqua bog preserve is jointly owned by The Nature Conservancy and the New England Wildflower Society.

Credit JW Sharpless
The rare wild orchid Cypripedium reginae, commonly called lady's slipper, thrives in Hartland's Eshqua Bog.

“This project helps us directly connect more people with nature and its treasures and benefits. We are so thankful to have had Timber and Stone’s trail building expertise to ensure that great care was taken in respecting the environment while responsibly opening up the trail to more visitors,” Heather Furman, state director for Nature Conservancy in Vermont, said in a news release.

The Nature Conservancy held a ribbon cutting in late June, when the lady slippers were in peak bloom. Over 50 visitors turned out for the ceremony and guided tours on the new boardwalk.

Amy is an award winning journalist who has worked in print and radio in Vermont since 1991. Her first job in professional radio was at WVMX in Stowe, where she worked as News Director and co-host of The Morning Show. She was a VPR contributor from 2006 to 2020.
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