Pomfret, Vermont – The Connecticut River Conservancy (CRC) and a multitude of project partners today finished planting 5,178 native trees and shrubs on 4,775 feet of riverfront at eight sites in Lebanon, Piermont, Haverhill and West Milan, New Hampshire, as well as in Dummerston, West Fairlee and East Burke, Vermont.
This spring’s riverside plantings, which covered 5 acres of land on numerous tributaries of the Connecticut River (including the Passumpsic, Ompompanoosuc and West rivers in Vermont, and the Upper Ammonoosuc River, Oliverian Stream and Great Brook in New Hampshire), will help reduce erosion, improve water quality by filtering out pollutants, and increase habitat for fish and wildlife.
Since 2011, CRC and its partners have planted more than 28,500 native trees and shrubs along the main stem Connecticut River and numerous tributary rivers and smaller brooks in New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts. CRC works with landowners (farmers, towns and other non-profit organizations) by applying for grants to fund conservation and restoration projects, as well as providing project management services to the landowner.
“We spent the last two weeks planting buffers at three sites where we removed old dams last fall, plus two town-owned culvert replacement project sites and three farms,” notes CRC River Steward Ron Rhodes, who coordinated the projects with the landowners and project partners. “I want to thank all the volunteers who helped plant these trees. And our project partners and funders deserve a big round of applause for helping making real, on-the-ground benefits in our watershed,” said Rhodes.
Twenty eight volunteers from the Burke Town School, the Burke Conservation Commission, the Passumpsic Valley Land Trust, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Trout Unlimited, and Saint Michael’s College joined the planting crews provided by the Northwoods Stewardship Center, Beck Pond LLC, and ECO AmeriCorps.
Funding for these spring 2018 plantings was provided by the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, Vermont’s Clean Water Initiative Program, and Trout Unlimited (the MadDog and Greater Upper Valley chapters).
Species planted included sugar, red and silver maples, shrub and black willows, red osier dogwoods, speckled alders, and numerous native berry species purchased from the Intervale Conservation Nursery in Burlington, VT and New England Wetland Plants in Amherst, MA.
CRC is a membership based nonprofit working to protect the watershed of the Connecticut River from source to sea through on-the-ground projects, public education and advocacy. To learn more or to support your rivers visit ctriver.org.
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