photo by Chris Steel
GREENSBORO – Ever since July 10 marked the date of two disastrous floods, this time of year makes me fearful. The first flood eroded the bank of Porter Brook abutting our property, and the second flood made matters worse. This spring my husband Tom and I decided to ask for help from the Stream Wise program. We expected the initial assessment would conclude that there was nothing to be done, and this beautiful spawning brook was damaged forever.
We got something very different from what we expected.
The initial Stream Wise assessment began when good-natured professionals and volunteers Lucy Zendzian, Emily Cayer and Chris Steel walked the entire length of the brook bordering our property. Noticing the natural beauty of the brook while identifying erosion concerns, they made the experience enjoyable. It was clear to us that we were in good hands. We awaited the subsequent report, still with some trepidation.
We got something very different from what we expected.
The extensive, colorful, illustrative report was informative and constructive. To our surprise, we received the Stream Wise award by meeting the program’s five criteria. Throughout the report we learned a lot about buffers and tiers and what could be done with riparian trees and shrubs.
On July 7, a pickup truck arrived with 104 plantings consisting of willows and red osiers, choke cherries and serviceberries and more. Following the plan drawn by Liza Keisler, the site was prepared. Jed Feffer and Chris Steel provided leadership as volunteer coordinators of the Stream Wise program for the upper Lamoille Watershed. Volunteers from the community pitched in and completed the work in a little over three hours!
That was a lot shorter than we expected.
It was a joy to work alongside these very fine people, and to be continually surprised at how we moved from fear to relief just by asking for help.
The Stream Wise program for the Upper Lamoille Watershed across Greensboro, Stannard and Hardwick is designed to support landowners with the protection of riparian buffers on their land to help improve water quality and mitigate the impact of stormwater erosion. The program has planted over 2000 trees locally in the last three years. For more information about Stream Wise access the web site streamwisechamplain.org.
