HARDWICK – I’ve heard more than one person say recently, “It hasn’t flooded for two years. Why are we still talking about flooding?” It’s a fair question, depending on your perspective. It probably does feel like we’re spending a lot of time talking about flooding right now. We are. In[Read More…]
From the Watershed
Are we planning for the storms of the future?
HARDWICK – Many Hardwick residents can remember a time when a storm meant steady rain for a day or two. Roads might flood. Fields might pond. Rivers would rise and eventually return to their banks. The floods of recent years felt different. In July 2023, portions of the Hardwick area[Read More…]
Relationships are infrastructure, too
HARDWICK – Earlier this month, I received a national award for floodplain management. The recognition is meaningful, of course. But honestly, what has stayed with me most is how the nomination happened in the first place. Five women working in Vermont state government coordinated the nomination effort, gathered support and[Read More…]
Jackson Dam Is one piece of much larger conversation
HARDWICK – Over the past several weeks I’ve written about the Jackson Dam study, sediment accumulation and some of the questions communities often ask when aging river infrastructure comes into focus. But Jackson Dam is only one small part of a much larger system. The Lamoille River does not begin[Read More…]
Jackson Dam changes raise common questions from community
by Kristen Leahy HARDWICK – As conversations about Jackson Dam continue, a few questions tend to come up repeatedly. That is not surprising. When a piece of infrastructure has been part of a landscape for generations, people naturally think about what might change and what might be lost. One of[Read More…]
What happens when a dam comes down?
by Kristen Leahy HARDWICK – Over the past few weeks I’ve written about Jackson Dam, the sediment that has accumulated behind it, and the reality that rivers and infrastructure do not remain frozen in time. One of the questions that naturally follows is simple: what happens when a dam is[Read More…]
The sediment story above and below Jackson Dam
HARDWICK – Last week’s discussion looked at what the recent study found at Jackson Dam. This week, it’s worth stepping back and looking more closely at how rivers move sediment and why that matters. When people think about a dam, they usually think about water. But an important part of[Read More…]
Jackson Dam Study reveals river system complexity
HARDWICK – One detail in the Jackson Dam study stayed with me after I read it. When the SLR engineers began trying to measure how much sediment had accumulated behind the dam, they pushed a fourteen-foot probe rod straight down into the lakebed. In several locations they still did not[Read More…]
Waiting has a cost
HARDWICK – In a small town like Hardwick, it’s easy to put off big decisions. Projects are expensive. The timing never feels quite right. When something is still working, at least most of the time, it can be hard to justify making a change. Concern about the cost of projects[Read More…]
From the Watershed: Beavers cause problems; they also solve them
Hardwick doesn’t have the luxury of abstract conversations about water. We’ve watched it come through our commercial core, into our homes, and across our roads, more than once, and more recently than anyone would like. We’re investing real money and real time trying to reduce that risk. That forces us[Read More…]
