The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has released draft updates to Vermont’s wetland maps, including many communities in Caledonia, Lamoille, and Orleans Counties (and the entired Lamoille Basin).
The updated maps show the approximate location and shape of wetlands where previous mapping was incomplete or inaccurate. DEC is asking property owners, municipalities, and interested residents to review the maps and provide feedback before the maps are finalized.
Wetlands help improve water quality, provide wildlife habitat, and can help absorb and slow floodwaters. As Vermont communities continue to invest in flood resilience and watershed health, accurate wetland mapping is an important planning tool.
Residents are encouraged to review the maps and submit comments or corrections if they identify potential inaccuracies.
The Town of Hardwick and the Center for an Agricultural Economy are hosting Atkins Neighborhood Conversations, a summer community discussion series held alongside the Monday Community Meals at the Atkins Field Pavilion.
These informal conversations are intended to bring neighbors together, share practical information, and create space for questions about flooding, preparedness, recovery, and community resilience.
Location: Atkins Field Pavilion, 140 Granite Street Community Meal: Mondays, 5:00–6:30 PM Conversation Begins: 6:00 PM until 7:00 PM Free and open to the public. No registration required.
Conversation Schedule
June 15 — Lake Champlain Sea Grant Stream Table Demonstration Explore river dynamics with an interactive stream table. Test scenarios like dredging, dams, armoring, and road crossings to see how rivers respond during storms. Hands-on and open to all ages.
June 22 — Dredging 101 An informal conversation with Shayne Jaquith, River Scientist with The Nature Conservancy, about dredging and river dynamics. Open discussion and questions encouraged.
July 13 — Go Bags Emergency preparedness for households, families, and animals.
July 20 — Flood Insurance Understanding insurance, claims, and community questions.
July 27 — Update from the Hardwick Resilience & Adaptation Office An update on flood recovery progress, resilience projects, and what’s next for our community.
Pull up a chair. Share a meal. Join the conversation.
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.
The Town of Hardwick is hosting two upcoming opportunities to learn about and support the health of our local waterways:
Beaver Presentation – April 29 (5:00–6:30 p.m.) At the Parker Ladd Community Room in the Jeudevine Memorial Library (Hardwick), naturalist Patti Smith will share insights from her work with beavers in the wild and raising orphaned kits. Biologist Skip Lisle, founder of Beaver Deceivers International, will follow with practical strategies for reducing beaver-related flooding using flow devices that protect infrastructure while allowing wetlands to function. Free and open to all. Done – HCTV Recording will be available soon.
Cooper Brook Cleanup – May 1 (8:30 a.m.–2:00 p.m.)TOMORROW! Volunteers are needed to help remove tires and debris from Cooper Brook before they move downstream during high water. We’ll be staging at Atkins Field, 100 Granite Street, Hardwick. The Town will provide dumpsters and a wash station; volunteers can help in the stream, move materials, or assist with cleaning. Waders, wheelbarrows, and garden tools are welcome. Pizza, salad, and cold drinks will be provided.
Many Thanks to the Greensboro Association for providing monetary support for this endeavor!
