Rockingham Conservation Commission

09/06/2026

Styrofoam recycling returns to WRJ on Saturday October 3. Be sure to arrive early—last time I went I arrived at 11:30 and they said the trucks were all full!

Learn about the Town of Hartford’s Styrofoam Recycling Collection, a community recycling program open to residents of the Upper Valley in Vermont and New Hampshire. Find information about accepted and prohibited materials, collection locations and dates, preparation requirements, and how collected...

08/21/2026

Here are the local E. coli results at swimming holes from Wednesday 8/19, and all sites but one (VT-SXT_05.6 or Stickney's Field Swimming Hole) tested clean for swimming! Enjoy your late summer swims! We’ll sample once more this year on 9/2. —Peter Bergstrom

08/19/2026

Many of us struggle to keep warm each winter with cold, drafty windows. WindowDressers provides a simple, cost-effective solution. They bring community volunteers of all economic and social situations together to improve the warmth and comfort of interior spaces, lower heating costs, and reduce carbon dioxide pollution by producing low-cost insulating window inserts that function as custom, interior-mounted storm windows. Our staff supplies, trains, and supports teams of community volunteers as they build affordable, insulating window inserts at local Community Builds. There will be a build in Rockingham this November, contact me to get more information. Peter Bergstrom, 802-289-3271

08/06/2026

Bacteria results from yesterday (8/5) showed levels that were safe for swimming in Rockingham. The lower reaches of Sacketts Brook in Putney still have some high levels.

07/27/2026

Here are the E. coli results from week 3 of our summer sampling, collected last Wed. 7/22. All of the sites in Rockingham were safe for swimming except Stickney field was just above the warning level (261 vs 235). We’ll sample again next week on 8/5.

07/23/2026

We need a volunteer or two who can help me measure window frames for our "Window Dressers" project to build inside storm windows. This is our sixth year doing the project and I've always done the measuring, but I've had vertigo for 4 mothns straight, so I can't measure this year. The workshop is in early November and measuring needs to be finished by early October. Volunteers need to have steady hands, good eyesight, and be comfortable on a 3-step stepladder (shown here). I'll provide training, the laser measuirng tool, and record the data. Most measuring visits are on weekdays but we also do weekends. Please contact me (call or text) at 802-289-3271 if you can help. Thanks! --Peter Bergstrom

07/08/2026

Illegal bike trail building near Stowe. https://www.mynbc5.com/article/two-men-fined-35k-for-cutting-down-300-trees-to-build-illegal-mountain-bike-trail-in-stowe/71860235?fbclid=IwZnRzaAS7jZxwZG9mAWZkaWQWUKKvdPlTf2U5c0iLCk8oHrJgm4_XC2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR6lJxlvomqAJVFrHmbv1UO5EGViOg461HHlyea3DwgAaGs5d_MBau3YQAeUKA_aem_pwCEVCjPFI0U4PNms6FBeQ

An unauthorized mountain bike trail network in Vermont's largest state forest has ended in a $35,000 settlement and an order to remove remaining trail features

06/23/2026

Rockingham Nature Walks: Oak Hill Trails

When: Jun 24, 2026, 5:30 to 7:30 PM
Meet at the parking lot at the Rockingham Recreation Center in BF, 10 Playground Rd
Some trails are steep, and dress for ticks.
For more information contact Hayden Smith at (802) 881-6407

--Peter Bergstrom • Co-Chair, Rockingham Conservation Commission,

06/18/2026

One of the challenges for the weatherization of Vermont homes is the age of our housing stock. When was the last time a new home was built near you? I grew up in suburban CT in the 1950’s and new homes seemed to sprout near me like mushrooms.

I’ve heard it claimed that VT has the oldest housing stock in the US, and that’s close to the truth. This analysis of 2024 data shows that DC has the highest % of pre-1939 housing, at over 16%. VT is tied with three other Northeastern states, RI, MA, and NY, at about 13%. ME is close behind at 12%, while NH and CT have slightly newer housing (about 9% of their houses are pre-1939).

Weatherization is always a good idea, but it can be more of a challenge in older homes. —Peter Bergstrom, Rockingham Energy Committee

05/22/2026

We have a venue and dates for our fifth WindowDressers community workshop, where we will assemble insulating window inserts for local residents. It will be held from Nov 5 through 12 (Thursday to Thursday) at 335 Leach Rd, just west of Saxtons River, in a shop belonging to Energy Committee member Mike Stack.
Please write to me at [email protected] if you would like to get your windows measured for inserts. Also please write to me if you have some 8 foot work tables that we could borrow for the week, since we’ll need at least a dozen. —Peter Bergstrom