This week the Franklin County Conservation District released the second edition of a nature guide created with help from Richford NOTCH day campers. A first edition of “The Locals’ Nature Guide to the Richford Playground” was released in 2017 and featured over 30...
Here’s a question for you: How are the trees you purchased from our tree sale doing? Every year we distribute thousands of stems through our sale, but rarely do we hear of the lives these trees go on to live (or not live.) There are two reasons we want to know how...
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...
The District is working with state and federal wildlife agencies to remove the Johnsons Mill Dam in Bakersfield, reconnecting habitat for native brook trout and improving water quality. The Johnsons Mill Dam, built on the Bogue Branch near Witchcat Road, was once a...
“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,...
This year we are partnering with American Meetings, Inc. to provide free trees to our tree sale customers! Black cherry, red maple, and black walnut are three of the fastest-growing hardwoods native to our area, so we have selected them for their faster carbon...
by Jeannie Bartlett The last two springs I’ve inoculated different areas of my raspberry patch and under my fruit trees with winecap mushroom spawn, and the double-harvest sure has been fun. In early spring I spread clean hardwood wood chips through my raspberry bed...
In January, farmers Matt Choiniere (Highgate) and Steve Schubart (Charlotte) gave a guest lecture to the Middlebury College class Food, Farms, Future: Vermont. Through the course, 36 students explored the history, present and possible futures of VT agriculture....
The new Farm Bill passed in 2018 is just beginning to take effect. The Farm Bill supports programs administered through USDA, all the way from nutrition to support for beginning farmers and from crop insurance to conservation, and much more. Your USDA-NRCS team here...