Scientists and environmental groups have launched a four-state effort to identify and protect key wildlife corridors. They're trying to get the public to look beyond the road signs and think about wildlife movement on a much bigger scale. The goal is "landscape connectivity."  The idea is that core habitat areas should be linked to allow animals enough room to range and to provide genetic diversity within species. The four-state effort to identify existing wildlife networks involves state wildlife agencies, highway departments, and about 20 environmental groups.

Sally Laughlin, a leading wildlife advocate and scientist whose work was instrumental in restoring three species of endangered birds in Vermont, was named the first recipient of the CVPS-Zetterstrom Environmental Award. The award, named for famed osprey advocate Meeri Zetterstrom, includes a $2,500 cash award to support further environmental work.

The Burlington Free Press reports that "key groups will hold a public meeting next month to discuss the role of the Champlain Canal in the introduction of invasive species to Lake Champlain." According to experts, "The movement of water and boats through the canal is a likely path by which some invasive species have reached the lake. The canal links Champlain with the Hudson River." Fifty invasive species have made Lake Champlain their home and have "altered the lake ecosystem and cost millions of dollars in control efforts." Those invaders include zebra mussels, Eurasian water milfoil, white perch, alewives and water chestnuts. Notably, the Lake "the is home to fewer invasive species than surrounding water bodies. In the Great Lakes, 184 invasives have been catalogued, 87 in the St. Lawrence River and 91 in the Hudson River."

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Vermont Public Radio reports that "a rare type of forest in northern Vermont is being protected at the Woodside Park in Essex." The land was donated by Guy Neveu to the Winooksi Valley Park District. "The parcel is a mix of maple, ash and hickory more typically found in southern Vermont. It also includes red maple, pitch pines, witch hazel, white ash, black cherry, round-leafed tick trefoil, handsome sedge and Minnesota sedge."

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Vermont Public Radio reports that "Vermont's forests are threatened by three insects that could devastate stands of many tree species, including the state's trademark sugar maple." Those insects include the hemlock woolly adelgid which has been found in New Hampshire and vermont, the Asian longhorned beetle which has been found in Massachusetts, and the emerald ash bore which has been found in New York and Quebec. In response to the insect threat, state officials are hoping to "keep timber and firewood out of the state that could be harboring the tiny bugs." Notably, "small insects can survive in firewood. When they reach maturity, they emerge and go in search of a live tree to infest."

State entomologist Jon Turmel explained, "I've been at it over 30 years and I can't emphasize that enough, that this is a real threat, that people should just buy their firewood locally, especially campers. These are the ones - the tree dies in the backyard. Well, you're gonna chop it up and bring it to the campground when you come to visit. Please. Don't do that. It's emphatic. I can't emphasize it enough. Leave your firewood at home. Please." Recently, "the federal government has become concerned enough that it's placed a quarantine on all firewood that enters the country from Canada. The quarantine says that before any firewood enters the U.S. from the north, it has to be heated to 160 degrees for an hour and 15 minutes."

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Vermont Public Radio reports that a Draft Environmental Impact Statement released this week by the Forest Service has found that the Deerfield "wind project planned for national forest land in southern Vermont would supply needed clean energy for the region, but could also harm bear habitat." The Statement "looks at the environmental pros and cons of the 34 megawatt project" and "opens the door for the public to comment in detail."

The Deerfield project will include seventeen, 400-foot high wind turbines and will require about 80 acres of land in "good bear habitat." The development area is a very remote part of the national forest, and each turbine "could kill about two bats a year. Migrating birds could also run into the spinning blades." Meg Mitchell, forest supervisor for the Green Mountain National Forest,  said that "biologists disagree about this project's impact on the bears."

"The draft environmental impact statement looks at the project as proposed, and then examines alternatives, including no construction and a smaller development. The Forest Service declined to endorse one alternative over another. Mitchell said she has to wait until a parallel review by the state Public Service Board is finished."

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Vermont Public Radio reports that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the owners of the Pleasant Valley Farm, a farm in Richford, "will be fined and ordered to make amends for illegally converting 40 acres of wetlands into hay fields." The owners have "agreed to spend more than $100,000 on mitigation and fines, including restoration of 29 acres of wetland" and said they "didn't knowingly violate regulations."

Vermont Public Radio reports that the Cox Brook, a tributary of the Dog River in Northfield, will soon run free for the first time in seven decades after a construction crew removes an old concrete dam from the river. "The project eliminates a safety hazard caused by the aging dam, and will open up miles of spawning habitat for wild trout." Constructed in 1932, "the dam was built  for a saw mill that was never completed. [The dam] doesn't generate power, and the concrete wall blocked trout from the Dog River from reaching several miles of spawning habitat." According to Clark Amadon, president of the Mad-Dog chapter of Trout Unlimited, a group that protects fish habitat, "The project is unusual because once a dam goes up, they're hard to take down." Notably, "the Dog River is one of very few Vermont streams that are not stocked with fish raised in a hatchery. The big brown trout, the colorful brook trout and the rainbows here are all wild and they need clean, running water to spawn."  Madeline Lyttle a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said that reconnecting the Brook with the Dog River is very important because the River"has a very unique, very lucrative fishery."

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The Addison County Independent reports that resdients Collin Tompkins, Nate Bierschenk, Derek LaRosee, and Will Pitkin are Lake System Monitors -- a specially trained corps of divers that make up the Lake Dunmore/Fern Lake Association (LDFLA) Milfoil Project. The Project aims to curb the spread of Eurasian watermilfoil, an invasive species that is extremely fast-growing and smothers native species. The Monitors spend their days doing surveys of the lake and removing plants by hand. Notably, "the project, which got its start in 1994, received an award a few years ago from the Environmental Protection Agency for modeling environmentally friendly practices in milfoil control."

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The Brattleboro Reformer reports that "the Department of Environmental Conservation held a workshop Sunday to spread the word about the serious threat posed by non-native plants, fish and other organisms in Vermont's streams, rivers and lakes. The environmental officials were also there to try to get concerned water lovers to commit to joining the Vermont Invasive Patrollers, a volunteer group that keeps a lookout for invasive species and reports them to the environmental conservation department when they are found." Thus far, the program has about 40 participants who have agreed to "monitor a waterway and conduct at least two surveys during the summer for the presence of invasive plants or animals." Notably, "Vermont has seen a sharp rise in both the number of invasive species and the locations where they are found." For example, didymo, or rock snot, which has killed thousands of fish in the Midwest, first appeared in Vermont last year.

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The Burlington Free Press reports that volunteers trained by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation are working to "monitor the spread of exotic plant and animal species that impair the quality of life for native Vermonters, including humans." For example, Roger Crouse, who summers along the Williston side of Lake Iroquois, became a certified Vermont invasive patroller through the Department's program. Crouse is the president of the newly formed nonprofit Lake Iroquois Association and is monitoring the spread of the Eurasian watermilfoil, an invasive, feathery aquatic plant that kills fish and other creatures by moving into shallow-water nurseries, on Lake Iroquois. "Jo Wright, the only other official Vermont invasive patroller on Lake Iroquois, said this particular watermilfoil was introduced to the U.S. in the early 1900s and was first discovered in Lake Iroquois a century later." The plant is also found in Lake Champlain and Lake Bomoseen and "extensive efforts to prune watermilfoil growth in those bodies of water are generally acknowledged to be cosmetic, at best." Currently, "thinning stands of Eurasian watermilfoil can be expensive in labor and machinery. Methods include hand-harvesting by divers, mechanical mowing, herbicides and mulching with underwater tarps."

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The Burlington Free Press reports that the "Nature Conservancy’s Wise-On Weeds program provides technical assistance and public education in the Champlain Valley." After one year in existence, the program has helped "train more than 800 people to recognize, remove and replace invasive species, and has established demonstration sites from Manchester to Jeffersonville." Volunteers with the program have learned to identify and remove invasives such as the garlic mustard and the Japanese knotweed in order to restore the native habitats.

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The Burlington Free Press reports that the Vermont Land Trust and the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation announced that two tracts of forestland have been preserved. The preserved lands include a 426-acre plot in Bolton and a 157 acre plot in Jericho and Richmond. Notably, "the transaction represents the first state acquisition of land in the Chittenden County Uplands Conservation Project, a cooperative effort to conserve the ecological integrity, rural character and working landscape of the northeastern uplands of Chittenden County." Bob Linck, Vermont Land Trust Champlain Valley regional director, commented that this latest effort was particularly significant because it "links expansive wildlife habitat of the state forest with the town of Bolton's Preston Pond property."

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The Times Argus reports that "efforts to improve trout habitat on the Batten Kill [River] in southern Vermont will continue this year with the potential for $20,000 in grants." The grants will support the Batten Kill Watershed Alliance, which "since 2006 has been adding woody debris and slate rocks to the river to protect brown and brook trout from flooding and create shade and places for them to feed." Work this year will focus on stopping erosion, increasing buffer zones, and stabilizing banks along the river. "Trout Unlimited has awarded the project $7,500 and the group's local chapter plans to donate $5,000, which will be matched by a 60 percent federal grant from Green Mountain National Forest."

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Update on Friday, April 11, 2008 at 11:31AM by VCF Staff

Batten Kill restoration gets help from Bypass
The Bennington Banner reports that "ongoing work to restore habitats on the Batten Kill is getting a boost from the ongoing Bennington Bypass project." According to Shelly Stiles, district manager for the Bennington County Conservation District, "Trees removed from the east side of Bennington, where a ramp for the northern leg of the bypass will be constructed, are being hauled to several areas along the Batten Kill to create artificial habitats for trout and other wildlife." Notably habitat restoration projects along the Batten Kill began in 1999 after surveys conducted by the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife revealed a 54 percent decline of the river's brown trout population.

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Update on Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 09:11AM by VCF Staff

Batten Kill restoration appears to be working Vermont Public Radio reports that “efforts to restore the trout population in the Batten Kill in Arlington appear to be working.” Over the last two years, biologists and private groups, including the Batten Kill Watershed Alliance, “have been working to restore trout habitat on the world famous trout stream, which in recent years saw a decline of about 70 percent.” Last year, testing results found that that “in some areas trout populations were up 600 percent.” This past week, “a biologist for the state of Vermont conducted a fish count of a section of the river and early results were encouraging.”

Update on Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 09:11AM by VCF Staff

Batten Kill restoration appears to be working Vermont Public Radio reports that “efforts to restore the trout population in the Batten Kill in Arlington appear to be working.” Over the last two years, biologists and private groups, including the Batten Kill Watershed Alliance, “have been working to restore trout habitat on the world famous trout stream, which in recent years saw a decline of about 70 percent.” Last year, testing results found that that “in some areas trout populations were up 600 percent.” This past week, “a biologist for the state of Vermont conducted a fish count of a section of the river and early results were encouraging.”

The Times Argus reports that "two families donated conservation easements to the Vermont Land Trust last month, adding nearly 170 acres of land to more than 2,000 acres already conserved by other Marshfield landowners." According to Mark McEathron, the central Vermont director of the Vermont Land Trust, "Marshfield has benefited by an amazing string of generous acts by landowners in the last few months." He continued, "First was the purchase of the 620-acre Stranahan property at a hugely discounted price, which created the new Stranahan Memorial Town Forest. Now two more (families) have stepped forward to preserve beautiful pieces of land in active farm and forestry use."

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