For Winooski NRCD
District
Manager:
Natural
Resources Conservationist
Jessica Androletti
Land
Treatment Planner:
Land
Treatment Planner:
Basin Planner & Ag. Resource Specialist:
Susan Alexander
Bookkeeper:
Board
of Supervisors:
Mike Dominque, Chair
Rita Bisson, Vice Chair
Catherine Scribner, Treasurer
Tom Bushey, Supervisor
Don Hipes, Assc. Supervisor
Carrie Deegan, Assc. Supervisor
William Moulton, Assc. Supervisor
PARTNERS
IN CONSERVATION:
Environmental Protection Agency
USDA Farm Service Agency
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
USDA Resource Conservation and Development
US Fish and Wildlife Service
VT Agency of Ag., Food and Markets
VT Agency of Natural Resources
VT Agency of Transportation
VT Dept. of Environmental Conservation
VT Dept. of Fish and Wildlife
VT Dept. of Forest, Parks, and Recreation
VT Natural Resources Conservation Council
Central VT Regional Planning Commission
Chittenden City. Regional Planning Commission
City of South Burlington
Lake Champlain Basin Program
Town of Williston Planning Office
Friends of the Mad River
Friends of the Winooski River
Lamoille Watershed Association
MEMBERS:
Bob Barnes
Carrie & Andy Deegan
David & Janet Ellison
Lydia Fasey
Whitney Germon
Vince Gomez
Ian Govett
Faith Ingulsrud
Bonnie Lavoie
Dru Oren
Emma Ottolenghi
Stashu Polewacyk
David Potter
Sophie Quest
Sean Reilly
Tom Thompson
Christine Turner
Susan Warren
Steven Wisbaum
Wayne Zeilenga
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The WNRCD and partners are in the process of duplicating a program initiated by Deb Perry from the Northwest Regional Planning Commission and science teacher Jeff Rouleau. The project links high school science and art classes where students paint and distribute rain barrels to community members at no cost. Science students will research the benefits and proper use of rain barrels and use the information to create an educational brochure for homeowners. Each student will be responsible for distributing two rain barrels to community members of their choice. Art students will use their own designs to paint the barrels with appropriate nature themes.
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 Rain Barrel Art : Courtesy Geauga Soil & Water Conservation District |
The WNRCD is nurturing a new program called the Rooftop to River Initiative (R&R). The key objectives of R&R are to install demonstration rain gardens in impaired watersheds; to educate the public about the cost-effectiveness of rain gardens as stormwater control mechanisms; to directly keep stormwater out of streams; and to create a comprehensive, user-friendly rain garden program template that, once established, can be duplicated throughout Vermont. R&R aims to stimulate incentive opportunities that will encourage the use of rain gardens and rain barrels as well as create and distribute educational materials such as a Vermont specific Rain Garden How-To Manual. These activities coupled with an established organization of educational work shops and plant swaps will benefit towns and private homeowners who wish to improve water quality but do not know where to begin.
Rain Garden How-To Manual for Vermont
As part of the R&R Initiative the WNRCD is partnering with UVM Sea
Grant Program, the UVM Master Gardeners, and a local landscape architect
to create Vermont’s own Rain Garden How-To Manual for Homeowners. This
manual will be specifically geared towards Vermont's characteristics and
climate including a detailed description of Zone 4 and native Vermont
rain garden plants, a map of existing rain gardens throughout the state,
6 garden themes, and local rain garden resource contact information. The
goal is to have the manual ready for printing by the end of April. The
first distribution of the manual is planned to occur at UVM Horticulture
Farm Plant Swap...see below.
UVM Horticulture Farm Plant Swap
This plant swap will take place during the Bloom-Time Festival on Saturday,
May 19 from 10 a.m. to 2 pm. The swap will be a part of the Burlington
Garden Club’s annual plant sale. Most of the plants at this event are
those that Club members dig from their own gardens. This year, the WNRCD
will be at this event to share information about rain gardens and introduce
the new Vermont Rain Garden How To Manual. Please join us and other gardeners
as we prepare for the growing season!
This project, funded by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will act as a coordinated, collaborative effort to engage watershed citizens, volunteer groups, and city and town officials in focusing on the welfare of the Stevens Branch and the main stem of the Winooski River in the central Vermont urban centers of Barre City, Berlin, and Montpelier. Highly visible demonstration projects and watershed restoration projects will include riparian buffer plantings, rain garden construction, rain gutter disconnects, subsidized rain barrel purchases and distribution, and river trash clean-up efforts.
This project will be accomplished through a partnership between the WNRCD, UVM Sea Grant program, Friends of the Winooski River, Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, and DEC. Partners will meet for the first time in March to coordinate project details and timeline.