Privately Owned Stream Assessment in the Champlain Valley Basin

View or download a copy of the episode transcript here.

By Cate Kreider

Restoration work is a long process and change is not quick to take shape… but it all starts somewhere and some time. Last year, it started happening in landowner’s backyards thanks to the organization Stream Wise.

It is one thing to maintain riparian health in public spaces, but instilling the values of good buffers, native flora, and stormwater management becomes more difficult when the goal is to reach the many private landowners who manage their riparian areas to many varying degrees of quality. Hence, Stream Wise, an organization funded by the Lake Champlain Basin Program, operates by enlisting community partners to visit properties and provide guidance, assessment, and commendation for well-managed rivers and streams.

For this latest episode of Restoration Round Up, I’m excited to speak with two people who have been closely involved with this organization’s start, as recent as 2022, and rapid growth. Lauren Jenness, working with the Basin Program, has the scoop on many logistical elements of Stream Wise’s management and upkeep, while Michele Braun, the executive director of Friends of Winooski River, knows what it’s like to be a community partner actually performing assessments and networking with communities across the watershed.

After this one, Restoration Round Up will be going on a break while a new host and producer is hired. So make sure you listen to this update about a watershed-wide incentive program, how it started, how it works, and where it’s going next!

For more information you can visit their website here and follow them on instagram here.

Edit: Some corrections to the podcast. At 5:57 the organization being referenced is the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation instead of Protection. At 13:07 Michele says the plan is to have 5 VT organizations, but in actuality there will be six. These corrections are made in the transcript.

Today’s episode featured the call of the Scarlet Tanager. It was recorded by Martin St-michel in  Brome-Missisquoi, Québec on May 18th of 2014. We downloded the song from xeno-canto.org.

Image: An assessor working with Stream Wise speaks to a landowner about the state of their river bank, courtesy of Stream Wise's website.

This project has been funded wholly or in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under assistance agreement (LC00A00695-0) to NEIWPCC in partnership with the Lake Champlain Basin Program.

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