The Franklin County Natural Resources Conservation District (FCNRCD) has received funding from the Northwest Regional Planning Commission, which serves as the Clean Water Service Provider in the Missisquoi and Lamoille Basins, to perform a final design for a floodplain/stream restoration project along a tributary of the Rock River. The project parcel is owned by Bouchard Family Dairy, LLC, and is conserved with Vermont Land Trust. This project proposes restoration along a tributary of the Rock River, which passes through agricultural fields operated by Bouchard Family Dairy, LLC. The goals of this project are to increase flood storage capacity, reduce stream velocity, improve water quality, and reduce flooding on adjacent fields. Final Design may include a variety of restoration practices, such as development of flood benches, channel alterations, low-tech process-based restoration, and buffer planting. Restoration work will occur in conjunction with additional conservation easement adoption to retire a 50-ft buffer on either side of the channel, restricting future management by the landowner. This project expands on a previous two-tier channel implemented in 2018, along 1,000 feet of the tributary. Fitzgerald Environmental Associates conducted site analysis and designed the 2018 two-tier channel and have been hired as the engineering consultant for the final design of this project.
