The Schmoker Connection trail crosses private land connecting Sunset Hill Road and Oak Hill Road. The town has trail easements with the people who own land along the path that allows for public access.

The Town has approved the realignment of the trail which is expected to begin in May 2024. The landowner will move the trail out of the wooded area and it will run along the edge of the hayfield. Please see the map below.

This change will help the landowner farm their land and is supported by the Williston Conservation Commission. The town will continue to mow the trail so that it provides this important link between our town's parks. 

Williston has a strong farming tradition dating back to its foundation. To maintain our agricultural lands they need to be actively farmed and managed. Keeping this land working maintains the link with our past. The town supports agriculture and helping rural landowners keep earning a living from their land. 

By relocating the trail the landowner is able to turn some of the wooded area into pasture for his cattle and improve his farm. 

The wooded area that will be converted to pasture is relatively new. It has only existed since around the 1950s; prior to that it was farmland. Many of the trees and plants in this area are invasive species. These species do not provide the same benefits to our local wildlife as our native species and it is important that we control and remove them wherever we are able. 

Please see the Conservation Commission discussion for details of how this decision was made. Meeting of June 7, 2023 linked here. 

If you want to check out what this land or anywhere else in Williston used to look like, the Vermont Center for Geographic Information has 1962 aerial photography for the town linked here. Scroll down to click the "1962 "H" collection; zoom into Williston and click the relevant pink dot; then click 'Download jpeg for casual viewing'. Be careful - you could spend all day looking at these photos!