The Conservation Commission meets the first Monday of the month, 7PM, at the Town Hall.

Conservation Commission  Officers:

Glynn Pellagrino, Chair, 439-5566
Term Expires: March 2026

Ken Arkind, (978) 846-4556
Term Expires: March 2027

Luke Campbell, 439-5449
Term Expires: March 2025

Luise Graf, 439-3623
Term Expires: March 2027

Mary Kent, 439-3669
Term Expires: March 2027

Kathrine Lea, 439-5395
Term Expires: March 2026

John Mellquist, 439-9855
Term Expires: March 2027

Lindle Lawton Sutton, 439-5803
Term Expires: March 2025


The Corinth Conservation Commission has spearheaded many efforts over the years for the benefit of all residents. Their projects include:

  • Tree planting/upkeep in many of Corinth’s hamlets
  • Returnable bottle collection at the transfer station with proceeds to benefit the CCC
  • Establishing and maintaining the Corinth Town Forest, Clement Loop and Roaring Ridge Trails
  • Establishing the ‘Cookeville Mall’ as a way to give a second life to items otherwise destined for landfills (relocated to transfer station on Brook Road)
  • Overseeing ‘Green Up Vermont’ Day in Corinth
  • Establishing and maintaining a community apple orchard behind the Town Hall (information below)

More about the Clement Loop and Roaring Ridge Trails + maps »

Read agendas and minutes »


Corinth Community Orchard Update

[FALL 2023] The Corinth Town Orchard is located behind the town hall. Please help keep the orchard healthy by picking up drops. Pick at your own risk.  —Thanks from the Corinth Conservation Commission. This handy map shows the varieties of trees: Town-of-Corinth-Apple-Orchard-2023

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[SPRING 2022] The Corinth Town Orchard trees are growing. They are just behind the town hall in Cookeville. At the beginning, in 2014, eight apple trees, two pear trees and a crab apple tree were planted. In 2015, two more pears and eight more apples were added. A grant from Vermont’s Urban and Community Forestry program was used to get things started and since then Redstart Forestry and many Corinth friends have also made donations. The first trees were planted with help from Tom Loftus and his backhoe and Bob Sandberg has supplied compost for the trees for most of the past eight years. Compost and bark mulch have been put around the trees every spring during an annual orchard clean up event. During their early years the trees were fenced and watered but now they’re pretty much on their own. Dean Gregoropoulos does the mowing and Louise Graf has pruned the trees every spring. Nancy Ertle donated a bush cherry in 2021. It’s a community orchard and everyone is encouraged to pick apples and pears when they are ripe. Full bloom usually occurs near the end of May, marking another good time to visit.

Corinth Apple Orchard clean-up 2022

a lesson in apple tree pruning at Corinth's community orchard

1) Annual community orchard tree care by volunteers. 2) Louise Graf, professional tree pruner, offers a lesson in pruning one of the two dozen apple trees in Corinth’s community orchard, which is located directly behind the Town Hall. April 2022.


Corinth’s Riparian Landscape

[November, 2021] Corinth is interlaced with many connected waterways providing homes to a wide variety of plants and animals. This Riparian Landscape is defined as the land along the bank of a river, stream or lake. Riparian areas are ecosystems comprising streams, rivers, lakes, wetlands, banks, and floodplains that form a complex and interrelated hydrological system. Because of the diverse and dynamic nature of riparian ecosystems, they support a wide variety of plant and animal communities, including insects, reptiles, amphibians, fish, waterfowl, songbirds, bats, mink, and otter. An interesting riparian restoration management technique is happening now in Corinth and surrounding towns, made possible by the participating landowners and led by Redstart and the Connecticut River Conservancy.
Download this PDF for more information and maps »


Wildlife, Key to Corinth’s Rural Character

[August, 2021] The challenges we face in maintaining the character of our town are significant. The pressure on our land for new developments has grown as a result of the pandemic. It is vital that our long term planning addresses what we know to be the key issues … Forest Blocks and Wildlife High Priority Habitat Gap Corridors. We need to come together and realistically deal with the needs of landowners who will do the heavy lifting of preserving our forests, streams, and wildlife habitats. The Conservation Commission will continue to provide information and resources for Corinth residents.
Download this PDF for more information and maps »
Link to the map that appears on the PDF, which you can read more easily here »

September 14, 2021 at  6:30PM at the Corinth Town Hall: Presentation by Jens Hilke of the Vermont Department Fish and Wildlife. Jens will bring his vast knowledge to bear on the challenges facing Corinth’s Forest Block and Wildlife Corridor preservation requirements.


How Does Corinth Maintain its Rural Character and Natural Resources?

[March 2021] Did you know that about 90% of Corinth’s land area is composed of Primary Forest Blocks and Wildlife Corridors? Since 2018 the State of Vermont requires all municipalities to address the maintenance of these natural resources in their planning for future land use.
More information here: Corinth Forest Blocks »


PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS:

Emerald Ash Borer Is In Corinth

[SPRING 2019] Just over a year ago, small beetles called emerald ash borers (EAB) were found in Vermont, in the nearby Town of Orange. This beetle species, native to Asia, was first found in the U.S. 2002 in Detroit, Michigan. Since then ash trees have been infested and killed in 32 states and three provinces in Canada. The beetle larvae kill ash trees by eating the tissues just under the bark.

Once infested, ash trees rapidly decline and are killed in 3 to 5 years. Hundreds of millions of trees have been killed by EAB in the past 16 years – more than 99 percent of the ash trees in parts of some midwestern states. In Vermont, it’s estimated that there are 150 million ash trees, about 5 percent of all the trees in Vermont forests, and the outlook is grim, ugly, and expensive. Insecticides have been proven effective at protecting individual trees, such as yard trees or others with special significance.  But there is no way to control EAB in forests.

Forest landowners may choose to let their ash trees die and decay in place, but this is not an option for trees along town roads that threaten public safety. Ash trees killed by EAB soon become brittle and are much more dangerous and expensive to remove than live trees.

The Select Board has appointed a committee to coordinate Corinth’s response to EAB, and Corinth has been awarded a grant from the state to help with the cost of conducting an inventory of ash trees in the town’s road right-of-way so that we will know more about the magnitude of the approaching disaster.

Given how close the deadly insect is to Corinth, the Select Board plans to spread ash tree removals over several years. This means cutting some roadside ash trees in the town right-of-way while they are still healthy. Note that the town has the right to remove any trees within the town right-of-way (usually about 25 feet from the center line) that pose a hazard to any town road.

What can you do?

  • Learn to identify ash trees if you can’t do that already.
  • Learn to identify the symptoms of EAB.
  • Don’t move firewood. People transporting firewood from town to town is the primary way this insect is spread. Guidelines are in place for the commercial moving of ash logs and pulpwood.
  • Report possible EAB presence to VTinvasives.org
  • Volunteer to help with the inventory of roadside trees.

See maps of emerald ash borer presence and learn more about the biology of this insect at https://vtinvasives.org/land/emerald-ash-borer-vermont

Contact Virginia Barlow, Corinth tree warden, at ginny@redstartconsulting.com or 439 5652, or any member of the Conservation Commission or the Select Board if you have questions about EAB.

Here are two flyers that you can download, print and distribute:
corinthEAB-2019    and    homeowners-EAB

Corinth Community Apple Orchard

[SPRING 2014] Virginia Barlow, the Corinth Town Tree Warden, has worked with the Conservation Commission to create a community orchard on town land right behind the Town Hall. Eight apple trees and two pears and a crabapple tree were planted in April, 2014 in holes dug by Tom Loftus and his backhoe. Trees were donated by Redstart Forestry, several Corinth friends, and E.C. Brown Nursery gave the town a generous discount. Spring blossoms will grace the site each year and in the future apples will be available for harvesting. Community members will learn to prune the trees and will tend to watering and weeding. We hope the deer will respect them.