BRATTLEBORO — The Windham County Natural Resources Conservation District (WCNRCD) has been awarded an Ecosystem Restoration Program Grant from the state of Vermont's Department of Environmental Conservation.
The grant is for protecting the state's water quality and supporting WCNRCD's goal to conduct Stream Geomorphic Assessments (SGAs) in Basin 11 and all of its subwatersheds.
Basin 11 is in the southeastern corner of Vermont and drains the eastern slopes of the Green Mountains, encompassing the three watersheds of the West, Williams, and Saxtons Rivers.
Like much of Southern Vermont, the Williams River was hit hard by Tropical Storm Irene, yet is the only un-assessed river remaining in the three principal subwatersheds of Basin 11.
According to Chris Campany of the Windham Regional Commission (WRC), “Irene underscored the importance of understanding the science and physics underlying the behaviors of our rivers and streams. This knowledge is critical to town and regional planning, and information about stream and river behavior needs to be more broadly understood by the general public.”
This Phase 1 SGA will provide an overview of the general physical characteristics of the Williams River watershed and assesses channel response to both natural and human disturbances that have occurred over time. This information is essential as WCNRCD plans water quality restoration projects, will provide guidance for collecting more comprehensive Phase 2 data, and is the first step toward the development of a River Corridor Plan for the Williams River.
A completed River Corridor Plan will identify, prioritize and develop implementation projects to stabilize and restore the river corridor based on the SGA findings. The overall Management Plan for Basin 11 was completed and adopted in June 2008, and recommended the completion of SGAs as a Priority Project for water quality.
According to Marie Levesque Caduto, chief author of the plan, “the Williams River assessment work will guide the Agency of Natural Resources as we develop and fund the on-the-ground projects that will improve not only the water quality in the river but the aquatic habitat and the fishery as well.”
This grant will provide the funds to conduct a Phase 1 SGA on approximately 100 miles of stream on the Williams River, which includes the Middle Branch, South Branch, and the Andover Branch.
Campany notes that “Irene was an extreme event in terms of its overall scale, but damaging floods occur on our streams and rivers on a regular basis. Knowing what areas are likely to one day flood and/or erode can save heartbreak, property and lives, and point us to what riparian zones should be conserved and not developed.”
The assessment work has started and is expected to be completed by April 2014. Results will be presented at public meetings following completion.
WCNRCD has previously partnered with the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources and WRC to complete SGA's and Corridor Planning projects on the Saxtons, West, and Rock rivers, and the Whetstone, Crosby, and Ball Mountain brooks.