Restored: A Place to Really Listen

Kikitta Ahki is a place where people come to walk a level path between forest and floodplain, to gather with family, to throw sticks for their dogs, to nibble blueberries and elderberries. Young and old come to watch great blue herons wade and mergansers paddle the rapids like little kayakers. On warmer days, it’s a nice place to swim.  

Kikitta Ahki, a name in the Abenaki language, holds many meanings: Really Listen Land. Really Hear Land. Really Sharpen Land. When you come to this land of listening, of hearing, of sharpening, its name changes by one letter: Kikitta Ahkik. Its name changes because you are there to listen.

When Vermont River Conservancy first came to Kikitta Ahki, a 12-acre open space along Whetstone Brook in Brattleboro, it was called “250 Birge Street” or “Sawdust Alley,” and it was locked away behind a metal gate. The floodplain’s rich soils were buried under six feet of artificial gravel fill. That was 2014, when the heartache of Tropical Storm Irene was still fresh. When neighbors so vividly remembered how the brook – hemmed in by 200 years of industrial gravel – couldn’t slow and spread across this open land, and instead pushed across the opposite bank, flooded homes, and undercut downstream businesses. 

With the natural floodplain smothered and cut off from the river, we didn’t see the rich web of life that belongs here. We didn’t see people, either. 

We knew we would need to really listen to the land, the brook, and the community in order to restore this place. 

We bought this filled-in, gated-off industrial wasteland and set to work. First came years of efforts to understand the land: environmental assessments, interviews, hydraulic modeling, archeological studies, and engineers’ drawings. Then efforts to understand the people: we set up a table at the empty lot with pie, cookies, veggies and fruits, and we gathered neighbors to share good food and good ideas for a healthier relationship with the brook. 

 “I want to swim and fish here.” “I want this to be a place where my kids play.” “I want to hear birds singing.” “What does this place mean to Abenaki people?” “Wouldn’t it be nice if this was a food forest?” “What can we do to make everyone feel welcome?” “I want the brook to be free.”

Turning these visions into action last fall, we hauled out 50,000 cubic yards of gravel to free the brook and its floodplain at last. We planted native trees and shrubs with roots that will hold soils in place, trunks that will stand tall when floodwaters safely spill across the land, and nuts and berries that will nourish generations of songbirds (not to mention human nibblers).

The next time Whetstone Brook runs high, water can safely spill across this newly restored, natural floodplain, keeping 1-2 feet of water out of neighbors’ living rooms and kitchens. Next spring, the trees along the banks will welcome a kaleidoscope of warblers on their journey north. And come summer, voices and laughter will intermingle with the sounds of flowing water. 

Really Listen Land. 

Gated and buried no longer, Kikitta Ahki is brimming with life.