In 2016, we worked with the Downing Family in Craftsbury  to establish a riparian buffer on their property along the Whitney Brook and Black River. The site had long been cropped as a continuous silage corn field by a local farm with inadequate buffers and manure setbacks. The land changed hands and through this project, we were able to work with the new landowner to address his goals of improving the properties natural resources. We planted 1000 stems of seven species and 600 feet of willow fascines on six acre area.

We secured a $12,000 grant award from the VTDEC, which was based on acreage that the landowner agreed to restore according to the planting plan job sheet and signed landowner agreement.

The buffer is ~3,800 feet of river frontage with an average width of 50 feet.  Due to the sandy soils, recent land management practices, and limited buffer width with woody vegetation, the area is sensitive to erosion and movement from the channel instability in the river system. As the Black River Geomorphic assessment states, this area should be considered a high priority for a buffer planting project, which will reduce the input of sediments and nutrients from the field to the stream and possibly prevent loss of access of the farmer to the distant section of field.

 As a part of our project management, OCNRCD executed the following tasks:

• Worked with landowners and partners to develop a planting and stewardship plan, and crafted the landowner agreement
• Project bidding and contract selection
• Ordered and coordinated tree and shrub delivery
• Project implementation oversight and certification of completion
• Conducted survivability monitoring