Staff Blog: Green Mountain National Forest closed indefinitely

If your Labor Day holiday plans involved a hike in the Green Mountain National Forest, you'll probably want to start looking for an alternate weekend activity.

That's because on Thursday, forest officials ordered the entire 400,000 acre expanse closed indefinitely for health and safety reasons, with the threat of fines or imprisonment for anyone caught entering onto forest land.

Colleen Madrid, forest supervisor for the GMNF, said the U.S. Forest Service had concerns about the safety of roads and trails on federal property in the wake of last weekend's heavy rains, winds and flooding. She said crews will be working to assess and clear potential hazards over the holiday weekend, and that the public should avoid forest land until the order has been withdrawn.

“We are working diligently to assess conditions across the forest and moving to recovery to get (it) open as safely and quickly as we can,” said Madrid in a Thursday press release.

For other places to hike this weekend, try venturing to a Vermont state park.

And for up-to-date information on GMNF closure status, check their main page.