VT Watershed Grant Recipients Announced

Vermont has announced the recipients of its 2017 Watershed Grant Program.

The program, established by the legislature in 1998 and financed by a portion of the sales of the Vermont Conservation License Plates, is co-administered by Vermont Fish & Wildlife and the Department of Environmental Conservation. Grants to nonprofits and towns support both hands-on projects and education programs that improve aquatic habitat, water quality and flood resiliency.

Grants totaling $100,000 were awarded this year. Funded projects include:

• Culvert replacement and erosion control on a tributary of the Hoosic River in Pownal (Bennington County Regional Commission).

• Replacement of a culvert with a new bridge that will allow improved movement of fish and wildlife between Hall’s Creek and Lake Memphremagog (Town of Derby).

• Invasive knotweed control in Bennington County (Bennington County Conservation District).

• An interpretive exhibit on Allen Brook in Williston (Town of Williston)

• Removal of a dam on Mill Brook in West Windsor (Southern Windsor County Planning Commission)

• Riparian restoration and erosion control along the Winooski and its Tributaries (City of Montpelier, Friends of the Mad River, Vermont River Conservancy).

• Drainage control seminars for town road crews in Orange County (Two Rivers – Ottauquechee Regional Commission).

• Stormwater runoff control in Charlotte (Town of Charlotte).

• Wetland Restoration in Canaan (Essex County Natural Resources Conservation District).

• Watershed education and awareness (Vermont PBS, Vital Communities).