Watershed groups are community-based organizations working to protect and restore Vermont’s rivers, streams, and lakes.
Watershed groups work in their communities on a suite of restoration
and protection activities that improve water quality and lead to healthy
and resilient waters and watersheds.
This report highlights the activities and projects of 15 watershed groups
across Vermont. Each section of this report focuses on a type of watershed restoration work and includes a few of the many watershed group success stories during 2023.

Main river: There were no signs of water quality impacts from the landfill.
• Backwater areas: This year, we were able to paddle quite far into the northeast backwater to our usual
turnaround point about 400 feet in from the river, and roughly about 400 feet north of the closest edge
of Unlined Area A. We saw no signs of landfill impacts in the northeast backwater.

Vermont Business Magazine – Nearly 50 acres along the Johns River in Derby—a tributary to Lake Memphremagog and nursery stream for wild trout—is now permanently protected and open to the public as part of the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department’s Johns River Streambank Management Area (SMA).

“The Johns River is make-or-break spawning and nursery habitat for Lake Memphremagog’s wild trout,” said Pete Emerson, Fish Biologist with the department.  “The lake’s different tributaries attract different spawning runs, landlocked Atlantic salmon in the Clyde for example.  Although the Johns River doesn’t have the same name recognition as the Clyde or Willoughby, it’s just as important for wild trout.”

Memphremagog Watershed Association Wraps Up Another Successful Year of Funding Aquatic Nuisance Control Projects

For the past five years, the Memphremagog Watershed Association (MWA) has been the regional administrator for the Aquatic Nuisance Control Grant-in-Aid program from the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation. Through this program, MWA distributes state grant monies directly to municipalities and their lake associations to control and manage aquatic invasive species.

The Memphremagog Watershed Association (MWA) is pleased to announce the completion of two lakeshore restoration projects on Shadow Lake during the summer of 2024. A partnership between MWA, the Orleans County Natural Resources Conservation District, and NorthWoods Stewardship Center, these two projects represent important steps toward implementing water quality and habitat restoration projects that were identified during the development of the Shadow Lake Watershed Action Plan.