BRATTLEBORO — The Windham County Natural Resources Conservation District (NRCD) has received another round of funding for a program called Trees for Streams (TFS), to assist landowners with planting vegetated buffers along rivers, streams and brooks in Windham County that were affected by Tropical Storm Irene.
The goal of the TFS program is to improve water quality and restore aquatic habitat by preventing erosion and providing shade along damaged water bodies.
Through the program, 80 percent of the costs of establishing a vegetated buffer will be covered, including site selection and design, species selection, planting and guidance on proper maintenance. Participating landowners must agree to contribute 20 percent of the project costs and maintain the buffer for 10 years.
Applications will be evaluated on an ongoing basis as funding allows, and plantings will be scheduled for the early summer and fall of this year.
“We planted over 1,000 trees and shrubs at six badly damaged sites in Brattleboro, Newfane, Wilmington and Rockingham under the TFS program in 2012,” said Dana Ruppert, project director at the Windham County NRCD, “and are looking forward to more projects this spring. The addition of sufficient native vegetation really helps to rehabilitate damaged stretches of stream bank.”
To learn more about the program, request a site evaluation, or if you are interested in volunteering to help with plantings, contact Ruppert at the Windham County NRCD at 802-254-9766, ext. 104.
Funding for the Trees for Streams program was provided through the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation’s Watershed Grants Program.