The Blood in this Town reveals the DYNAMICS of RUTLAND

[Who We've Interviewed - #1 of 33]

MICHAEL SMITH, Pine Hill Partnership

Creating a 16-mile bike trail one foot at a time.

New visitors to Rutland's Pine Hill Park discover a world-class, 16-mile trail system within the park's borders. While most would assume that the town's Recreation and Parks Department built the trails long ago, they are actually the painstaking result of one man's remarkable determination. Michael Smith, President of the Pine Hill Partnership, started the park's biking trail close to two decades ago by simply taking a pick and shovel into the woods and hacking away. Foot by foot and many blisters later, the trail Smith started now measures a staggering 16 miles, attracting bikers, hikers and families from across Vermont, the nation, and around the world.

Smith started the trail for his own use at first, yet the park's close brush with a housing developer in 2001 led Smith to help organize the park's supporters to thwart the effort. As a way to protect the park and its trails permanently from bulldozers, Smith started enlisting volunteers to help develop and organize the park into a recreation center. Starting with a group of elementary school children who helped find the park's long-hidden survey markers, a wide variety of volunteers have pitched in to improve and expand the park's system of biking trails and recreation spots. Eventually, Smith formed the Pine Hill Partnership as a way to organize the efforts at improving and protecting the park.

Although Smith admits he might never have started the project had he known how many hours it would consume, he says, "I think everyone's looking for something to fulfill their lives in some particular fashion and this has been this wonderful opportunity. We have such rich recreational offerings in the Rutland area, and Pine Hill Park is now a vibrant part of that life."

When asked why so many people, from local residents to groups across the country, have volunteered to develop the trails, Smith reflects, "I think people, at their essence, want to help in something larger than themselves and I think perhaps that this place, maybe in some small way, provides that."

Pine Hill Partnership

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