The Memphremagog Watershed Association recently completed Phase 1 construction on a farm retirement and floodplain restoration project on Valley Brook in Morgan. The site, a former dairy farm, was purchased by the VT Fish & Wildlife Department and conserved in perpetuity as a Streambank Management Area (SMA) for use by the public for fishing, hunting, trapping, and wildlife viewing.

Crews from the NorthWoods Stewardship Center and Fish & Wildlife Dept. arrived in June to begin sourcing and staging logs and woody materials from the adjacent forest to use as in-stream structures called beaver dam analogues (BDAs). BDAs are hand-built, man-made versions of the industrious beaver’s natural dams, which are excellent at slowing water flow, trapping sediment, storing floodwaters, cycling nutrients, and providing aquatic habitat. Starting in mid-July – the day after historic rains fell and flooded out much of Valley Road and the project area – crews installed over 30 BDAs in the small tributaries that feed into Valley Brook.

KMC Excavation of Derby was contracted to deconstruct the barns and buildings of the former farm and reclaim the barnyard. Starting in August, roof trusses were hoisted away by crane and sent off to be reused by the contractor and the Patenaude Farm in Holland. Hundreds of sheets of metal siding and roofing were also repurposed, and any scrap metal was recycled. Over 12 truckloads of tires and 20 truckloads of baling plastic and building debris were removed from the site and properly disposed of. Untreated wood and concrete were buried on-site, and the barnyard was reclaimed with clean fill, seeded with conservation species mix, and mulched with straw.

Cunningham Logging & Excavation of Canaan was hired to implement the restoration components of the project. This work included removing 10 problematic culverts, reconnecting 450 feet of stream channel, decommissioning 1600 feet of washed-out forest and farm road, plugging and filling 1200 feet of agricultural ditches, removing fill material and restoring nearly an acre of floodplain, and constructing a new stream riffle. This work utilized biodegradable erosion control fabrics, native willow cuttings, and over 250 cubic yards of woody materials sourced from recent sugarbush thinning activities on the farm property. Over 4000 cubic yards of fill material was removed from the floodplain and used to restore the degraded road and barnyard area, improving floodplain connection and riparian habitat quality. In addition to restoring fish passage to headwater streams, this work will greatly reduce sediment loading to Valley Brook and will prevent an estimated 28 kg of phosphorus from entering Lake Seymour each year.

Phase 2 of the Valley Brook project aims to replace up to 5 more problematic culverts in the area, including 2 town-owned structures, 2 privately owned structures, and 1 State-owned snowmobile crossing. This work will be coupled with further floodplain and stream restoration efforts to improve water quality and aquatic habitat while enhancing flood resiliency in our communities.

Restoration work was designed and overseen by the Memphremagog Watershed Association in partnership with the Fish & Wildlife Department, Department of Environmental Conservation, Agency of Agriculture Food & Markets, and The Nature Conservancy. Restoration work was funded by a $142,581 grant from the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources Clean Water Initiative Program through a Formula Grant awarded to MWA via Vermont Housing & Conservation Board in their role as the Memphremagog Clean Water Service Provider. The Nature Conservancy is a co-holder of the conservation easement and contributed $14,500 toward construction of the project. The VFWD, VAAFM, and VHCB all contributed funding to the conservation acquisition and farm retirement efforts, including the barnyard reclamation. The Orleans County Natural Resources Conservation District initiated conservation planning discussions with the former landowner which led to the possibility for restoration of the farm. This work was partially funded by the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission through VFWD capacity-building grants with MWA, NorthWoods Stewardship Center, and Orleans County NRCD. Please contact Patrick Hurley, MWA Project Manager with questions at phurley@mwavt.org.