How many women live in New Jersey, perform at Mikhail Baryshnikov’s gala in New York city one week, then in the next travel to the Vineyard to lead school kids in movement and the art of the spoken word?

It’s Claire Porter — here under the auspices of The Yard and its artistic director, Wendy Taucher — who is ratcheting up excitement this week in all the Island schools.

A dedicated half-dozen volunteers gathered last Saturday to clear a trail in the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest, as part of the Island’s first participation in Massachusetts’ Park Serve program.

Sweating from the exertion of running a chain saw through dozens of fallen trees, state forest supervisor John Varkonda looked up and said, “The last time we cleared this trail was after Hurricane Bob, in 1991.”

Passenger traffic to the Vineyard on Steamship Authority ferries fell to its lowest level in more than a decade in March, more than 11 per cent below that for the same month last year.

Not since 1997, said SSA general manager Wayne Lamson, had fewer people visited for the month. And it was not only passenger numbers which plunged. The number of trucks coming and going — another key indicator of economic activity — was down almost eight per cent on the previous March.