The Town of Hardwick, Hardwick Electric Department, and the Caledonia County Natural Resources Conservation District are inviting residents, property owners, businesses, and anyone with an interest in the Jackson Dam project to participate in a community survey.
As the project moves from feasibility into the next phase of engineering and planning, community input will help the Jackson Dam Steering Committee better understand what information people would like to receive, what questions they have, and what issues are most important to them.
This survey is not a vote on the future of the dam. Instead, it is an opportunity to help guide community engagement and ensure that future discussions address the topics that matter most to residents.
The survey is open through August 28, 2026.
Take the survey here: https://forms.gle/vYnKGmGofcjcmFFW6
Paper copies are available at:
Hardwick Electric Department
Jeudevine Memorial Library
Hardwick Town Manager’s Office
Additional project information, reports, and meeting materials are available on the Town’s Jackson Dam webpage. Jackson Dam – Hardwick, Vermont
Join the Town of Hardwick and SLR Consulting for a public walking tour of the Confluence Floodplain Restoration Project.
This is not a formal presentation. Instead, participants will have the opportunity to walk the project area with the engineering team, view the site firsthand, and discuss the project in the landscape where the work is being planned.
The site visit will include conversation about the river, floodplain restoration, project goals, and the next steps in the planning process. Questions are encouraged throughout the walk.
The meeting location will be posted on the Town of Hardwick website during the week before the site visit.
Please wear sturdy footwear appropriate for uneven terrain and dress for the weather.
Residents gathered Monday evening for the latest Atkins Neighborhood Conversation to discuss flood insurance with Mary Block, Deputy Commissioner of Insurance with the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation.
Hosted by the Town of Hardwick in partnership with the Center for an Agricultural Economy (CAE), the evening gave residents an opportunity to ask questions in an informal setting after a community meal. Rather than a formal presentation, the conversation focused on the questions and concerns that people brought with them, including flood insurance coverage, homeowners’ policies, claims following disasters, and preparing before the next flood.
We appreciate Mary taking the time to visit Hardwick and share her knowledge with residents. Insurance can be a complicated topic, and having the opportunity to ask questions directly to someone with her experience was valuable for everyone who attended.
The Atkins Neighborhood Conversations are intended to complement other community outreach efforts by creating opportunities for residents to connect with experts in a relaxed, conversational setting. The series has covered a variety of resilience-related topics this summer, each with its own format and approach.
There is one remaining Atkins Neighborhood Conversation scheduled this season:
Monday, July 27, Update from the Resilience and Adaptation Coordinator (at the Atkins Field Pavilion).
Thank you to everyone who has participated in this year’s conversations and to the Center for an Agricultural Economy for partnering with the Town to make the series possible.
The Town of Hardwick is seeking proposals from qualified firms or individuals to provide Owner’s Representative/Construction Management services for the Town’s Utility Elevation Assistance Program.
This project is funded through the State of Vermont Community Resilience and Disaster Mitigation Fund (CRDMF) and will assist approximately eleven residential properties by elevating or relocating critical building utilities above the Base Flood Elevation. The selected consultant will serve as the Town’s representative during construction, providing oversight and coordination to help ensure the project is completed safely, efficiently, and in accordance with applicable project requirements.
Important Dates
RFP Issued: July 16, 2026
Proposal Deadline: Monday, August 10, 2026, at 3:00 PM
The Town of Hardwick is an Equal Opportunity Employer and encourages proposals from qualified small businesses, minority-owned businesses, women-owned businesses, veteran-owned businesses, and disadvantaged business enterprises.
Chelsea Ross, advisor to the Hazen Hatchery Club, reached out last fall looking for a way her students could do something real for water health in our area. Not theoretical. Not a classroom exercise. Something that mattered on the ground.
We talked through a few ideas. There are no shortages of needs when it comes to our rivers and streams. But one kept rising to the top: the tires in Cooper Brook.
Tires don’t come out of a brook easily. Especially the ones that have been sitting there for years.
If you’ve walked that stretch, you’ve seen them. Half-buried. Wedged into banks. Sitting just loose enough to move the next time water comes through. Many of them were carried and redistributed during the July 2024 flooding, shifting downstream and collecting along this reach of the brook.
So we made a plan. In March, we picked a date. May 1.
By the morning of May 1, it was clear this wasn’t going to be a small effort.
Forty-seven people showed up. Students, neighbors, and partners from the Hazen Hatchery Club, the Center for an Agricultural Economy (CAE), Trout Unlimited (NEK Chapter), the Greensboro Association, Caledonia County NRCD, and Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, along with residents of the Granite Street Historic District, who live closest to this stretch of the brook and have seen its changes firsthand.
Members of the NEK Trout Unlimited chapter were in the brook throughout the day, helping lead the in-water work and keep things moving.
And then there was Jud Kratzer, a fish biologist with Vermont Fish and Wildlife, who showed up with enough waders to outfit the students and make sure they could actually get into the brook and do the work – the quiet MVP of the day.
The work itself was muddy. Physical. At times awkward. Tires had to be pulled, rolled, dragged, hauled up banks, stacked, and in many cases washed down before disposal. Teams formed without much discussion—some in the water, some moving debris, some staging and loading.
Five hours later, the numbers spoke for themselves:
175 tires removed. Half a dumpster of additional debris.
That’s debris that won’t trap sediment, redirect flow, or move downstream into tighter channels during the next high water event.
The Greensboro Association provided financial support for the cleanup, helping turn a student idea into something real.
And that’s really the story.
A question from a teacher. Students willing to get their hands dirty. Partners who said yes. And a community that showed up and did the work.
This is what watershed-scale resilience looks like.
