EarthWalk at Matsinger Forest
In 2024, the Fairbanks Museum and EarthWalk embarked on a partnership to develop, create, and deliver education programs serving our shared community in Matsinger Forest.
With two years of support from the Fairbanks Museum, including generous funding from the Francis Block foundation and Dorr foundation, as well as many extra hours from the museum staff, EarthWalk now is able to “stand on our own” as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, better poised to serve our shared community in high quality programming for many years to come. This is our hope and vision.
Under a new contract with the Fairbanks Museum, in 2026 forward, our program name will be EarthWalk and we will be offering our weekly Forest School and, Summer Camps and monthly Adult workshops at the Fairbanks Museum Nature Preserve at Matsinger Forest. All program registration, payments and communication will now go through EarthWalk, on our website: EarthWalkTogetherVT.org.
What is most important will not change: our shared and growing community, learning to care for one another and the land. I also want to thank John and Barbara Matsinger for their stewardship and generous gift of their 500 acre Matsinger Forest to the museum. The land is very special and wild.
Thank you to the children, families, adults and elders who all have participated in EarthWalk programming these last 2 years.
I look forward to seeing you all out in Matsinger Forest in 2026!
With gratitude,
Ange
Angella Gibbons, M.Ed.
EarthWalk Founder
Matsinger Forest Location: 3072 Thaddeus Stevens Road at the Danville-Peacham town-line. Public Parking. Restroom facility (open May – Nov).
EarthWalk-Fairbanks Site: a short walk into the forest with a rustic shelter and seating area.
Angella Gibbons
EarthWalk Director
Angella (Ange) Gibbons, M. Ed. is a seasoned Nature Educator, Community-Builder, Consultant, Tracker, Naturalist and founder of EarthWalk. She has been mentoring, guiding and teaching children, teens and adults to care for one another and the earth for over 35 years. Recipient of the 2021 Zetterstrom Environmental Award given by Green Mountain Power, Ange is well-known across the state for her contributions to nature education and environmental stewardship. Ange and EarthWalk are featured in the book Greening Vermont: A Search for a Sustainable State, which documents the history of the Vermont Environmental Movement.
Ange is certified in Wilderness First Aid and CPR, and holds a Level 3 Track & Sign Certificate with Cybertracker Conservation. She also has certificates in both the Herbal Roots Apprenticeship and Family Herbalist program, from the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism. Ange lives with her husband Dennis, in a small sun-powered home on a hill in Marshfield, VT where they tend vegetable and herb gardens; chickens and bees, and grow and eat really nourishing food.