GUILFORD — Marissa Smith of Guilford was one of several Windham Regional Career Center students restoring a section of the Whetstone Brook in West Brattleboro on Friday, May 17.
The students planted hundreds of native tree and shrub saplings, including red maple, silver maple, and nannyberry, along a 550-foot stretch of the stream bank that was damaged by raging flood waters during Tropical Storm Irene.
But Smith's unique dedication to land stewardship overall is one of the reasons she is now being honored by the Vermont Land Trust with one of its annual Land Steward Awards.
Smith is one of eight outstanding students from around the state to be recognized by Vermont Land Trust. She will receive a $250 cash award that may be used towards education, equipment, or materials.
She is graduating from Windham Regional Career Center in June and plans to attend the University of Massachusetts at Amherst to study arborculture and urban forestry.
According to WRCC natural resources instructor Dennis Hamilton, who recommended Smith for the honor, Smith stands out due to her demonstrated commitment to the land: She milks cows and cleans calf pens at a dairy farm, helps out with a friend's 400-tap sugaring operation, and hunts with her dad.
She is also an excellent student, and has exhibited leadership skills in the Future Farmers of America and Future Business Leaders of America programs, Hamilton said.
Moreover, Smith is active in the student council, high school yearbook, and sports.
Vermont Land Trust's southeast regional director, Joan Weir, said she is looking forward to presenting Smith the Land Stewards Award at a school awards ceremony June 5.
This is the eighth year that the Vermont Land Trust has given this award to students who have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to the fields of forestry or agriculture.
The intent of the award is to acknowledge outstanding student achievement, encourage future land stewards, and increase the visibility of Vermont's vocational agriculture and forestry programs, which are vital to Vermont's future, VLT said in a press statement.
The planting that the students did along Whetstone Brook is a project of the Trees for Streams program sponsored by the Windham County Natural Resources Conservation District. The project focuses on a 12-acre parcel on Route 9 the Vermont Land Trust owns. VTL has been working to restore the river corridor with a vegetated buffer.
The property was donated to VTL, which is leasing it to a farmer. It was selected as a candidate for this program following the devastating Tropical Storm Irene.
“It's encouraging to see the hayfield restored and work with local students to re-vegetate sections of the buffers along Whetstone Brook,” said Kerry Doyle, VLT's regional stewardship manager. “This is a vulnerable section of brook and it feels good to have such a positive outcome on this property.”