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The Equinox Preserve covers 914 acres of
forest lands on the eastern slopes of Mount
Equinox in Manchester, Vermont. It is open to
the public for year-round, non-motorized
recreation. Over 11 miles of marked and
maintained trails provide access to these
unique mountainous woodlands.
The land’s owner, the Equinox Resort & Spa,
first donated conservation easements on 850
acres to the Vermont Land Trust & The Nature Conservancy of Vermont in 1996. An additional
64 acres of conserved lands were placed under
the protection of the Vermont Land Trust in September 2006. The Equinox Preservation Trust
was formed in 1996 to oversee the management
of these protected lands. Land and trail
maintenance and educational programs in the
Preserve are managed by the Equinox Preservation Trust Forest and Trails Steward).
The Equinox Resort & Spa owns a total of 955
acres of land on the eastern slope of Mount
Equinox. Currently, all but 18.2 acres (which
includes Equinox Pond, lands adjacent
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to the pond and Equinox Pond Road), are included in the Equinox Preserve, and are now under the development protection of either the Vermont Land Trust or The Nature Conservancy of Vermont.
The purpose of these easements is to limit any future development of these extraordinary natural resource lands as well as to ensure continued public recreation use of these lands in accordance with a recreation management plan, which was approved to ensure that public recreational uses of the mountain would be compatible with preservation of its valuable ecological resources.
It is the expectation that this Plan will be amended from time to time as circumstances change and new issues emerge. Interested persons are encouraged to contact the Equinox Preservation Trust if they wish to volunteer their time in maintaining the trails or have suggestions for the managers to consider.
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