Year-in-Review from your Local Conservation Commissions
ENOSBURG FALLS
The Enosburgh Conservation Commission has developed a new trail on the eastern side of the Longley Bridge road starting from the parking area. This trail ends at a beaver pond with wonderful bird watching opportunities. They are also excited about acquiring a new one acre parcel with a right of way from one of the town forest’s trails. The new trail will be developed in the spring. Our activities this year included a snowshoe in the town forest, a paddle on the Missiquoi River, hosting a fishing festival with MRBA, UMATR, Fish and Wildlife and FCNRCD and a fern identification hike in the town forest. One of our members, Charlotte Bill has documented eighteen different ferns in the town forest. We plan to host the local conservation commissions and other groups for our annual potluck to share ideas and collaborate on programs in January. One of our new focuses this year will be supporting pollinators, like other Conservation Commissions in the CHC region.
RICHFORD
The Richford Conservation Commission is grateful for the collaboration of area partners to help us accomplish many goals this past year. Thanks to a $4000 grant from the Upper Missisquoi and Trout River Committee (UMATR), we were able to focus on water quality in our watershed and youth awareness and involvement. The grant funds allowed us to purchase much needed equipment for Richford Jr. Sr. High School’s (RJSHS) biology and environmental studies classes, replacing 20-30 year-old equipment. This included water test kits, a turbidity tube, waders, and nets. In anticipation of this new equipment, RJSHS science teacher and RCC member, Todd Marlow, designed a new River and Stream Ecology course for the 24/25 Program of Studies. Students in this class have learned about stream features, geology, water chemistry, organisms that are present in healthy rivers, and human impacts relevant to river ecology.
This fall, students have been actively monitoring the water quality of the Missisquoi River as it flows past the high school grounds by collecting data to analyze. Thanks to a previous UMATR grant in which the RCC built steps along a steep bank at the back of the campus, students were able to safely access the river in order to do their testing and research. Their findings reveal that the Missisquoi River is currently in good health at the point in which it flows through the town of Richford!
We continued our efforts to promote awareness of the importance of pollinators and supporting habitat needs for them by maintaining our pollinator garden at Richford Elementary School and by planting pollinator-friendly bushes and trees on the campus there. Our choices of crabapple trees and winterberry bushes will also provide nutritious sustenance for migratory and local birds. We encouraged property owners to delay mowing their lawns in the spring to help emerging pollinators by distributing "No Mow May" signs for their yards. In collaboration with the Montgomery and Enosburg Conservation Commissions, we hosted a talk by Marijke Niles of Perennials Plus Gardens in Starksboro. Ms. Niles supplied the audience with many strategies and names of plants to provide habitat for native pollinator species.
We partnered again with our local Conservation Commissions to host a well-attended bird walk in the spring at Richford Elementary School in May at the height of spring migration. The RCC spearheaded our town's Green Up effort, coordinating bags and alerting people to where help was needed. We continued to monitor several bat nesting boxes that we installed in 2023 in parks and at our schools, as well as cavity bird nesting boxes along Main St. and in local parks.
Finally, 2024 presented us with a memorable and significant opportunity to highlight the wonder and awe that humans have shared across the planet and the centuries for our natural world and our place in the universe by organizing our town's celebration of the April 8th Total Solar Eclipse. Richford Village was directly in the path of totality, so RCC member and avid astronomer, Dan Seeley, gave a March talk for the public on the phenomenon of eclipses and what to expect. He also gave 5 such talks to students at both Richford Elementary School and Richford Jr. Sr. High School. RCC members helped the Town of Richford organize a public viewing event at the Richford Elementary School parking lot. This was attended by at least 225 carloads of eclipse watchers. Some folks had come from as far away as Alaska and Las Vegas, NV!
We also had a successful presentation on Loon's and their Habitat in October that was well attended at the Richford Public Library.
We look forward to ending the year by hosting a talk by Eddie Gagne on Tuesday, Dec. 10th on Wild Ducks, their habitat needs, and current conservation efforts at 6:30 at Richford High School. Mr. Gagne is a former Chair of VT Ducks Unlimited, current Education Officer for VT DU, is a skilled decoy carver, and has won the Jr. Duck Stamp Art Contest three times!
We are always open to suggestions for new goals and/or programs and we look forward to continuing our collaboration with local citizens and conservation organizations such as Cold Hollow to Canada, to further the cause of safeguarding.our area's rich natural ecosystems.
RJSHS Students testing the water quality of the Missisquoi River this past fall...
RCC future areas of interest: to install benches in Davis Park, by the bridge on Main Street, by the Park and Ride, below the water treatment plant by the river; and to install trail cameras at the RES stream, Richford Forest, and Davis Park.
MONTGOMERY
2024 was an eventful year for the Montgomery Conservation Commission (MCC). Goals for the year included: refining plans for trails and a bridge at the Town Forest; continuing efforts at the Jewett Property Town Land re: knotweed control, maintenance of a recreation path, and care of recently planted fruit and nut trees; offering conservation-related presentations, events and information for community members, and; continuing the MCC’s ongoing collaborative efforts with various partner organizations, including Cold Hollow to Canada (CHC), other local Conservation Commissions, Franklin County Natural Resources Conservation District (FCNRCD), Missisquoi River Basin Association (MRBA)/Upper Missisquoi and Trout Rivers Wild & Scenic Committee (UMATR), the Montgomery Center for the Arts (MCA), the Montgomery Elementary School (MES), and the Montgomery Recreation Department.
Accomplishments for the year include: meeting the deliverables of the UMATR Fruit/Nut Tree Grant; providing a local pick-up site option in Montgomery for the FCNRCD Annual Tree Sale; coordinating Green-Up Day activities; providing the gift of a tree and plaque to the MES 2024 graduating class; staffing the MCC table at the Farmer’s Market in order to share information and engage with community members; having meetings with contractors re: Town Forest plans for trails and a bridge, and; completing grant applications re: funding for the bridge design.
In addition, the MCC collaborated with the various partners mentioned above on the following events, either as co-sponsors or in a supportive role: Total Solar Eclipse Overview; Gardening for Pollinators; Wildlife Tracking on Town Land with MES Students; Swimming Hole Clean-Up; Montgomery Flood Resilience Study Results meetings promotion; “An Uncommon Look at the Common Loon” presentation; Ethan Tapper Book Launch, and; Knockout Knotweed Bonfire & Fire Skills and Star Stories. The MCC members are all very appreciative of the positive relationships with these partners.
2024 was also a year of significant change in the membership of the MCC. The following members resigned over the course of the year: Parma Jewett, John Kuryloski, Karen Stanley, and Sue Wilson. The following new members joined the MCC during 2024: Marielle Ambroch, Kip Potter, and Charles Snedicor. In August, Carissa Stein, the long-time Chair of the MCC resigned due to her upcoming out-of-state move. Carissa’s leadership, vision, equanimity and tireless efforts are missed tremendously, but her positive impacts remain. Patrick Calecas has taken over as the Chair, and Kip Potter is now the Co-Chair.
At this time of transition, the MCC recognizes and appreciates the many contributions of those members who have left during this year, while welcoming and valuing all that its new members have to offer. Everyone remains committed to continuing with the MCC’s mission, in 2025, and in the future: “To promote land as a community to which we belong.”
BAKERSFIELD
Unfortunately, we were not able to get a report from the Bakersfield Conservation Commission in time for this publication. You can find updates on their Facebook profile at https://www.facebook.com/bakersfieldconservationcommission