Lake Champlain Sea Grant and UVM Extension are partnering with the Town of Hyde Park Highway Department to offer a free training for municipal employees, commercial salting applicators, and others who manage snow and ice in winter or who have interest in learning about sustainable practices that can be used to reduce use of road salt during winter.
This training will include:
- a panel discussion among municipal and commercial salt applicators from Vermont about sustainable salting practices they use and how those have helped them to reduce salt use;
- a presentation during the panel discussion by commercial salt applicator James Irving Property Management, which will bring precision salting equipment that has contributed to their ability to significantly reduce road salt use in parking lots.
- demonstrations with Hyde Park’s equipment that allows them to pre-wet salt before it is put on the road (to help keep it in place and work immediately), and how to calibrate trucks that distribute road salt;
- and resources from event sponsors Innovative Solutions and Certified Power Solutions to help communities and commercial salt applicators to reduce use of salt.
Technologies like calibrating, pre-wetting salt, measuring pavement temperatures, precision salting, tracking pavement temperatures, and use of mini weather stations have helped both municipalities and commercial salting businesses reduce use of salt by 25-60% in recent winters. This has saved both communities and businesses money and benefitted the environment. Stories of use of these technologies will be shared during the training.
Training participants will also learn about and obtain resources that describe other sustainable salt practices that communities are using to manage snow and ice that both keep people safe and reduce use of salt.
The workshop will be held at the Hyde Park Highway Department garage at 332 VT-15 Hyde Park, VT on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026, from 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Participants can earn two Snow & Ice Management Association (SIMA) Certified Snow Professional Credits for attending.
Interested individuals can register to attend this free training on the Lake Champlain Sea Grant website (https://go.uvm.edu/salted2026).
Municipal staff, private contractors, businesses, and individuals can learn more about reducing use of salt in winter on the Salt Savvy Champlain website (http://go.uvm.edu/saltsavvy2026).
