Protecting Vermont Rivers Since 1995

Why Protect and Restore?

For more than 300 years, Vermont rivers have been subject to use and abuse — meandering waterways forced into straight-line channels, currents burdened with trash and effluent, and fish passage cut short by hundreds of (now aging) dams.

Today, the effects of these historic patterns linger as visible barriers to vibrant communities, whether urban or rural. Downtown rivers are lined with busy roads, parking lots, and railroad tracks instead of walking paths, outdoor cafes, and songbird-filled green spaces. Channelized rivers rush alongside highways and mega-marts. Lowlands that once served as floodplains are built up with centuries of toxic fill and no longer slow a river’s current. And in the farthest headwaters, lands stripped of trees and topsoil lack the swales and wetlands that could provide high-quality wildlife habitat and essential filtration to keep communities’ water clean.

Meanwhile, in places where generations of kids have splashed with friends, new “no trespassing” signs are cutting communities off from their local rivers.

Our Vision

We’re working towards a time when a drop of water that falls anywhere in the Green Mountains flows through mossy old forests and beaver-filled wetlands, down cool clear streams home to otter and brook trout, past communities where broad floodplains create space for rivers to meander and shift over time, and into a clean Lake Champlain, Lake Memphremagog, Connecticut River, or Hudson River. We envision a future where people from all walks of life have access to rivers for recreation and quiet enjoyment, and value rivers as a source of clean water to their family’s tap, healthy habitat for abundant wildlife, and a source of wellbeing essential to their daily lives.

How We Get There

To get there, we use the right tool for the job. Sometimes this means giving rivers space and time for nature to regain a foothold, and sometimes we kickstart recovery by using big yellow trucks to haul out industrial fill or concrete dams. No matter what, every project we tackle has the same results: thriving communities, healthy habitat, safer homes and businesses, and places where young and old will always know the joys of Vermont rivers.