We are partnering with the Vermont Land Trust and willing landowners to help increase riparian buffers along the Lamoille River. The former power company Central Vermont Public Service Corporation, now Green Mountain Power, is helping fund feasibility research into expanding naturally vegetated riparian buffers in areas impacted by their operations. Increasing riparian buffers improves water quality, river bank stability, wildlife habitat, and flood resiliency.
Initial mapping of the targeted area has identified over thirty high priority parcels for creating riparian buffers – many on farm land already conserved by the Vermont Land Trust. VRC and VLT will work together with interested landowners to create a more ecologically robust and flood resilient Lamoille River. Creating riparian buffers upstream can help improve water quality downstream, and this has direct benefits for Lake Champlain, parts of which suffer from poor water quality in the summer.
Funding for this project is provided by Central Vermont Public Service Corporation (CVPS) through the VT Agency of Natural Resources Ecosystem Restoration Grant program, and the Vermont Community Foundation’s Lake Champlain Tributaries Restoration grants.