Photo courtesy of GMHA Festival of Eventing.
The Green Mountain Horse Association (GMHA) in Woodstock, VT is delighted to announce that The Manton Foundation, a long-time supporter of GMHA, has generously offered to match all donations to the GMHA Land Acquisition up to $500,000.00.
The hayfield and open land beyond have been used by GMHA with permission from its owners for many years for cross country courses, driving marathons, and trail access. After nearly a year of discussions, the owner has offered to sell us 35 acres, including the hayfield and open land beyond. The acreage also includes about 17 acres of woods on the hillside on the opposite side of Kedron Brook.
A map detailing the land GHMA is working to acquire.
Besides preserving GMHA, the planned land acquisition will help us protect the property from flooding. As you recall, in 2023, four floods between July and December impacted GMHA.
Photo via GMHA on Facebook.
One of the ways to protect GMHA would be to control the amount of water coming onto the property from Kedron Brook. GMHA believes this could be done by flooding (temporarily) the hayfield adjacent to GMHA to the south in the event of a major flash flood event, then allowing the water to disperse over the following days.
This would protect not only GMHA’s property but also our downstream neighbors in South Woodstock and beyond. The board has retained engineers who are working on a definitive plan to look into this idea and GMHA has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the State of Vermont to advance the work and apply for permits.
GMHA’s current fundraising meter.
Projected Benefits of GMHA’s Land Acquisition Project:
* It will increase the footprint of GMHA by over 60% and add potentially buildable land on the hillside out of the flood plain.
* It will protect forever the open lands GMHA have already been using and which their programs have come to rely on.
* It will grant access to the hayfield which will help protect the rest of the property from future flood events.
* And if GMHA doesn’t buy it, someone else will, threatening many of their existing programs
The Manton Foundation has offered to generously match every dollar, up to $500,000.00, donated for the land acquisition. $1 Million is due by October 2024, and every gift helps GMHA reach this goal!
For more information, please contact Bruce Perry or call 802.457.1509. You can also view more information on donating here.
