Where is Basin 11?

Basin 11 is located in the southeastern corner of Vermont and drains the eastern slopes of the Green Mountains . It encompasses the three watersheds of the West, Williams and Saxtons Rivers. The Basin covers approximately 395,520 acres. There are 49 lakes and ponds in the three watersheds, comprising 1,030 known acres. The rivers and their tributaries flow down from the mountains through the foothills and across the Vermont Piedmont to the Connecticut River Valley where they join the Connecticut River. The West River joins the Connecticut River in Brattleboro, the Williams River joins the Connecticut River in Rockingham, and the Saxtons River joins the Connecticut River in Bellows Falls .

What is the Planning Process?

A Basin Plan will be developed for each river in the basin every five years. The Plan summarizes current past and past (within five years) assessment, planning and implementation activities at the state and local level in the basin. It identifies topics or areas of special importance in the basin, identifies available management tools to address those topics, and makes specific recommendations on how to address key topics, including recommendations for continuing community-based planning or implementation action.

The Basin 11 planning process empowers people with information and tools and provides a focus for activities to protect and restore water quality. The process focuses on the big picture. It concentrates on issues of basin importance where cooperation among municipalities, private organizations, businesses, interested residents and branches of state government can be effective in protecting, restoring or enhancing water quality. The WRWA's basin planning effort gives all watershed stakeholders the opportunity be contributors to this important document.

Many public forums resulted in the drafting of the first Basin 11 Management Plan. The public forums brought together members of the community who felt they had some stake in the watershed, educated participants about the basin planning process, discussed issues, concerns and ideas for maintaining and improving water quality, began developing an action list to address key issues, and generated more public interest and enthusiasm in area rivers and streams.

A WRWA supported Watershed Council evolved from the public forums. The Watershed Council works under a consensus-based, decision making model to prioritize issues by selecting the highest priority problems, threats and opportunities. The Council works together to foster community understanding and implementation of the various aspects of a basin management plan.

Focus Groups have been created within the Watershed Council. The Focus Groups center on specific watershed issues that will be contained within the Basin 11 Management Plan. The Groups investigate the problems, allowing adequate time for science based education in order to reach a level of shared learning, and strategize possible solutions for inclusion as recommendations for action in the Plan. The Focus Groups also review the Basin 11 Management Plan Draft; and foster community understanding and acceptance of the Basin 11 Management Plan.

In 2005 State funding was made available to create a state supported basin planning position. This staff person took over the planning process begun by the WRWA Watershed Coordinator.

The Basin Plan has been drafted to meet the State basin planning criteria for Basin 11. The Plan will be reviewed every five years.