Region 1: EPA New England

EPA Sustainable Riverbanks Project on The Connecticut River

EPA has awarded the Connecticut River Joint Commissions (CRJC) three separate grants ($100k) to implement the EPA Sustainable Riverbanks project.

CRJC has completed an exhaustive inventory of riverbank erosion sites along the main stem of the Connecticut River in New Hampshire and Vermont. Along with developing an erosion inventory methodology, CRJC and their partners have developed a prioritization protocol for implementing erosion site remediation projects with a strong preference toward "soft" engineering practices. CRJC completed their first erosion abatement project on the Connecticut last summer at the Hook Farm in Brunswick, VT.

During the summer of 2002, two other sites will be restored. Both sites are excellent candidates for abatement involving primary agriculture soils, diverse wildlife habitat, recreational uses of the river, documented archeological resources, and cooperative land owners.

Upper Valley Farm Experiments with New Riverbank Restoration Technique
Boaters on the Connecticut River will find a few things out of the ordinary as they pass Birch Meadow Farm in Fairlee, Vermont. Nearly a hundred overgrown Christmas trees have found a new purpose as riverbank wrapping.

Farmers, conservationists, soil scientists, and foresters, aided by a crew from the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, installed an innovative demonstration project (cooperatively funded by EPA, NRCS, USFWS, and CRJC) to restore a severely eroding riverbank at the farm. The project will safeguard prime agricultural soils, enhance water quality, improve wildlife habitat, and protect archeological resources.

Initiated by the Connecticut River Joint Commissions, the project involves a strong team of cooperating local, state, and federal agencies in addition to the landowners, Steven and Arline Stocking.

A 1200-foot long section of riverbank at the farm has been scoured and eroded by water, with substantial loss of land to the river. Boat wakes from power boats have contributed to bank instability and the site is influenced by water level fluctuations in the impoundment behind Wilder Dam. The farm has lost an average of two feet of land a year downstream.

As part of the American Heritage River Initiative, the Connecticut River Joint Commissions worked with the Connecticut River Conservation District Coalition to identify erosion sites on the river like this one, and to develop criteria for prioritizing sites in each county for restoration. The CRJC recruited a technical team of professionals from a variety of agencies and disciplines to review the priorities, and in 2001, selected three top candidate sites for restoration in a new Sustainable Riverbanks initiative. Birch Meadow Farm in Fairlee is one of these top three sites.

The technical team selected Birch Meadow Farm as an excellent prospect for a number of reasons. It involves primary agricultural soils, wildlife habitat, recreational use of a Connecticut River Water Trail primitive campsite at the farm, and documented archeological resources, and is under the care of a cooperative and interested landowner. The farm is protected by a conservation easement held by the Upper Valley Land Trust.

CRJC’s technical team recommended use of a large tree revetment at this site, cabled well into the bank with duck bill anchors. The revetment consists of 20-40-foot conifers, arranged with their tips pointing downstream, protected by a small rock tie-back at the upstream end to deflect current away from the restoration work. Once the trees are in place, more than 2000 willow stakes and dogwood cuttings will be planted among their branches to root and hold the bank, further trapping sediment. Additionally, a riparian buffer of 600 plants will be installed, to give better anchor to the soil and also provide wildlife habitat. The buffer will be experimental as well, and is designed to provide a cash crop of berry- and/or nut-bearing trees and shrubs which can benefit the farm economically.

"We’re interested in finding lower cost, more river-friendly techniques for dealing with erosion," said Sharon Francis, CRJC Executive Director. "The old approach, of covering the riverbank with rock, is now understood to cause more trouble than it fixes, and besides, it''s hugely expensive." Rock rip-rap has been abandoned by state permitting agencies as a preferred treatment for erosion except where no other alternatives exist. Too often, it obliterates habitat, accelerates the flow of water, and causes adverse effects downstream."

The riverbank restoration site is adjacent to two state-owned wildlife habitat areas which are heavily used by a wide range of birds and wildlife, both aquatic and terrestrial. Just downstream from the project site is a Vermont-owned wetland at the mouth of the brook that drains Lake Morey, while just upstream and across the Connecticut River is Reeds Marsh, owned by the NH Fish & Game Department. There is also archeological evidence of Native American Woodland Period long houses in the eroding escarpment.

Live willow stakes and dogwood cuttings will be driven among the tree revetments from the top of bank to the water level. Native trees and shrubs will be allowed to grow in a zone 25 feet from normal low water. For the next 50ft of buffer a riparian cover will be established with agro-forestry a goal of this area. Next spring, more live stakes, cuttings and live posts of willow and other woody plants will be placed on the bank where rooting may have failed the previous year. This field trial will extend over ten years, with continued monitoring beyond this time.

When the Connecticut River Joint Commissions surveyed all 1,300 NH and VT riverfront landowners in 1991, the number one issue on the landowners'' minds was bank erosion. Riverbank erosion is one of the most prevalent and misunderstood problems facing the Connecticut River and its tributaries. In many cases it is the result of the river’s natural tendency to scour and deposit sediments as it flows through the landscape. Seasonal flooding and the abrasion of ice as it breaks up in the spring chew at the river’s banks on certain reaches, particularly in dam impoundments. The fluctuation of water behind peak generating hydroelectric dams and the wakes from passing power boats also take their toll of riverbank soils.

The Commissions emphasize that erosion is a natural, ongoing process, and can never be eliminated, but good conservation stewardship can minimize its harmful effects and loss of property. Stewardship means maintaining a good riparian buffer of trees and shrubs, and it means operating recreational boats slowly near shore so their wakes don't attack the riverbanks.

New River Restoration Initiative on the Upper Connecticut River
A cooperative of regional, state and federal agencies is pleased to announce a new effort with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for an ecosystem restoration initiative along the Connecticut River and its tributaries in New Hampshire and Vermont.

The US Fish & Wildlife Service, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, US Environmental Protection Agency, VT Dept. of Environmental Conservation, NH Dept. of Environmental Services, and other state and local authorities will work jointly with the Connecticut River Joint Commissions and the Army Corps to identify potential stream bank and wetland restoration sites on the upper river.

The Vermont and New Hampshire Congressional delegations sought and obtained the authority for the Corps to undertake this effort, upon the request of the two state environmental agencies acting on behalf of CRJC.

The initiative will begin with a six month reconnaissance to identify potential sites and determine the ecosystem benefits to be gained. Those sites that promise strong public benefits for aquatic habitat improvement will move to a more rigorous screening process, called a feasibility study, and then on to construction. The initiative is strictly voluntary, and would consider work on private land only when landowners are interested.

The feasibility phase will take several years to complete and is cost shared on a 50/50 basis between Federal and non-Federal interests. Construction costs under the Corps ecosystem restoration authorities are typically shared on a 65 percent federal/35 percent non-federal basis.

The current project amplifies CRJC's Sustainable Riverbanks project, which assembled a technical team from state and federal agencies to scrutinize the top erosion trouble sites on the mainstem of the Connecticut River proposed by the county conservation districts. CRJC selected three as first priorities, where riverbank restorations are currently underway.

An innovative project to demonstrate the use of a new low-cost, low-impact, river-friendly technique is scheduled for installation at Birch Meadow Farm in Fairlee, VT this summer, where waterfowl habitat, prime agricultural soils, an archeological site, and a recreation area will be protected.

At Fort No. 4 in Charlestown, a different technique will protect what is considered to be the most significant Contact Period archeological site in the upper Connecticut River Valley. Construction at the Fort will get underway in late summer. At the Hook Farm in Brunswick, VT, prime trout habitat, an archeological site, and prime agricultural soils have been protected with a project begun last summer and continuing this spring.

Key to the success of all of these projects will be installation of a sturdy riparian buffer of vegetation to help stabilize the riverbank, provide habitat, and improve the quality of runoff into the river.