USFS honors river work
Toolbox
By PATRICK McARDLE Herald Staff - Published: December 1, 2008
ARLINGTON — The Batten Kill Watershed Alliance and the White River Partnership, along with the Green Mountain National Forest, will be awarded the U.S. Forest Service's Eastern Region Honor this month for the work the groups have done together to protect Vermont rivers.
Cynthia Browning, executive director the alliance, said the key to the award was that it was about partnerships.
"We would not be able to do the work we do without the assistance and expertise of the Green Mountain National Forest. But they need us too. They need a grass-roots group that has ties to the local property owners and government," she said.
The award from the U.S. Forest Service recognizes those projects achieved in cooperation with the Forest Services local arms and citizens' groups formed to serve ecological preservation or restoration projects.
Steve Roy, fisheries program manager for the Green Mountain National Forest, nominated the groups for the award in a letter to the U.S. National Forest.
"It is the partnerships and relationships built by the members of the Batten Kill Watershed Alliance and White River Partnership, the associates of the Green Mountain National Forest and the local citizens and landowners that will endure and carry the Batten Kill and White River watersheds to a new place in history," Roy said.
The White River Partnership, based in Royalton, has worked on 25 river restoration projects in the last 12 years with the Green Mountain National Forest, restoring almost 14 miles of the river. The partnership primarily uses trees and shrubs to stabilize the river's banks and protect them from erosion.
The Batten Kill Watershed Alliance has also spearheaded river restoration projects, completing about a mile over the last three miles with an eye toward restoring a full mile in 2009 to make a four-year total of two miles.
Both groups work toward increasing the trout population. The Batten Kill is well known as a challenging place for trout fishing but because of declines in the population, it has been designated a "catch and release" river.
Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department fisheries biologist Ken Cox said in September that for the second year in a row, a trout population study had indicated the trout population was growing in the Batten Kill.
Roy said one of the reasons the grass-roots groups had been successful was their ability to generate funding.
"(The two group's) funds have been instrumental in leveraging Green Mountain National Forest funding to accomplish many activities beneficial to aquatic and terrestrial resources, which the Green Mountain National Forest could not have done on its own. Appropriated U.S. Forest Service funds have been matched virtually dollar for dollar with partner contributions," Roy wrote.
Browning, who is also a state representative, said the award was important because it would be something the alliance can cite as they continue to seek matching funds to indicate the money is being spent well and the projects are successful.
A national award also provides a little bit of recognition for people like the Batten Kill project leader Scott Wixsom, of the Green Mountain National Forest, and the many volunteers involved who give up their own time to serve the river.
"I think people really feel the Batten Kill is important to this area. I think they feel an ownership toward the river but they recognize that no one person owns it so we all need to care of it and not exploit the river," she said.
Representatives from the alliance, the partnership and the Green Mountain National Forest will accept the award in Milwaukee later this month.
Contact Patrick McArdle at patrick.mcardle@rutlandherald.com.
34