In the Lake Champlain Basin, water defines our landscape. The erosive force of water carves out steep drainages along our mountain faces, adding definition to the Green Mountains’ most iconic peaks. It forms the valleys we inhabit, where the water can spread out, slow down, and lazily meander from one side of a valley to the other. As water continuously shapes our earth, it bends and winds and bows and twists and crooks and seeps. It’s natural,...

“Ecosystem services” is the term used to describe any positive benefits the natural world provides to humans. There are four general categories used to describe these services. Provisioning services are the material or energy outputs of ecosystems, including food, water, raw materials such as wood and oil, and more. Regulating services are provided through the regulation of natural systems, including flood control and water purification,...

Here at the District, we collect data for a VT Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets’ (VAAFM) study of tile drain sites across the state. Tile drains are installed under agricultural fields to drain off excess water in wet conditions to help crops grow more efficiently. Drains may be a single pipe or a system of pipes with water flowing out through one outlet below the field. The VAAFM study has been going for two years, collecting data on...