With support of Metal Pless Plows and Innovative Surface Solutions, Lake Champlain Sea Grant and UVM Extension are partnering with WIT Advisers and municipal and private contractors from Vermont, New York, and New Hampshire to offer an interactive workshop for municipal road crews, private contractors, and others who manage snow and ice on roads and other surfaces in winter. The event is also appropriate for municipal leaders and board members who are interested in learning about sustainable salt practices that are or can be implemented to reduce salt use during winter. The workshop will be held at Outbound Stowe at 876 Mountain Rd, Stowe, VT, on Thursday, October 9, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.  

Workshop participants will learn about and obtain resources that describe sustainable salt practices that communities and private contractors are using to manage snow and ice that both keep people safe and reduce the use of salt. 

In an afternoon session, participants can select to learn how to calibrate equipment to understand how much salt is being distributed at any given time, visit vendors, or have the opportunity to visit Hyde Park, VT, to see a demonstration of and learn about the use of a salt-water mixture to prewet salt before it is put on the road. This technology, combined with tracking road pavement temperatures and calibration, has helped Hyde Park reduce the use of salt by almost 50% over the past four winters. This has saved the town money and benefited the environment. 

The event is sponsored, in part, by Metal Pless and Innovative Surface Solutions.

Interested individuals can register to attend this workshop on the Lake Champlain Sea Grant website: http://go.uvm.edu/saltsummit2025

Municipal staff, private contractors, businesses, and individuals can learn more about reducing use of salt in winter on the Salt Savvy Champlain website: https://www.uvm.edu/seagrant/outreach/road-salt-water-quality-salt-savvy-champlain