VINS has been an enthusiastic and hardworking force for stewardship and conservation since the day it was born in 1972. The original founders, Dr. David Laughlin, Rick Farrar, Sally Laughlin, and June McKnight saw to that when they first advocated for cleaning up the Ottauquechee River, and thus created the first water quality litigation in the state of Vermont. Following this incredible momentum, these founders created VINS as a fun and educational resource for Vermont kids.
VINS became more bird-focused when Sally Laughlin introduced bird-banding workshops at VINS, while she was learning the techniques from Farrar in Woodstock. Since then, VINS has only added to its impressive resume the thousands of aviary patients they’ve helped nurse back to health over the past five decades. And to this day, VINS has over 40 birds in its continuous care - 22 in enclosures, 17 in education, and 8 in the songbird aviary - acting as our most impressive educators to our visitors year round. Not to mention, VINS takes in and rehabilitates hundreds of birds each year - in 2021 alone, VINS took in 1100 birds.
This geocache was placed in honor of VINS’ 50-year anniversary and is available to everyone, whether or not you wish to purchase admission to the rest of VINS’ campus. It is available only during hours of operation, which are every day from 10am to 4pm from November 1 to March 31, and every day from 10am to 5pm from April 1 to October 31.
To open the padlock, remember what year VINS was “born.” There are two sandwich containers inside - one for S.W.A.G. and one for trackables.
Visit our website for more information about VINS
