Projects

FNLC has received funding through the Northwest Regional Planning Commission, the Missisquoi Bay VT DEC Clean Water Service Provider, to develop a final engineering design for the Shipyard Road Boat Launch in Highgate Springs.

To build upon the water quality monitoring and best management practice implementation that has occurred in the Rock River watershed, FNLC was awarded a Lake Champlain Basin Program grant in late 2022 to conduct a two-year sub-watershed assessment of the Rock River in Franklin and Highgate

Through funding provided by Watersheds United Vermont, FNLC has received final engineering designs for a bioretention system at the Georgia Town Beach. FNLC partnered with Watershed Consulting Associates, LLC to further develop the preliminary designs that were created through the Lake Champlain Basin Program-funded Georgia Shoreline Assessment in 2020.

The purpose of the project is to demonstrate water quality improvements from a focused agricultural BMP implementation effort in a small watershed where very high rates of phosphorus loading to Lake Champlain have been documented.

Impacts from stormwater and shoreline erosion are major contributors to water quality pollution in lakefront communities across the Lake Champlain shoreline of Vermont.

Beginning in the 2021-22 school year, FNLC partnered with Exordium, a nature and outdoor education organization, to design and teach a place-based curriculum about the Lake Champlain Basin to students in Franklin and Grand Isle Counties.

Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) is a nature-based solution to stormwater runoff. These practices use plants and simple infrastructure to manage stormwater runoff by slowing it, spreading it, sinking it or storing it.

FNLC was awarded funding in 2017 to install a two-tier ditch to prevent flooding in a field on a local farm in Franklin County. This practice has been used on Midwest farms for over a decade, but this project was the first of its kind in Vermont. The concept requires digging out the ditch banks two to three feet above the bottom of the existing ditch channel and then creating a flat bench on both sides of the ditch.

During the summer of 2022, FNLC hosted a series of Shoreline Socials in lakeside communities around our region to teach residents about the lake-friendly practices they can implement to reduce erosion and stormwater runoff on their properties.

Through a grant from the Lake Champlain Basin Program, FNLC is conducting a Lake Watershed Action Plan (LWAP) for the Fairfield Pond watershed. Fairfield Pond is a 446 acre body of water located in northwest Fairfield near the borders of Swanton and St. Albans Town.

In 2021, FNLC received a grant from the Lake Champlain Basin Program to conduct a shoreline assessment in the towns of Swanton and Highgate, which resulted in preliminary designs for stormwater management projects.

FNLC is pleased to announce the
implementation of approximately 150 feet of shoreline restoration on the eastern shore of North Hero. The work was supported through a grant provided by the VT Department of Environmental conservation (VT DEC) and was complimented with the landowner
matching funds. The work activities began in the fall of 2020 and were recently
completed this spring.

In 2020, FNLC received funding from the Lake Champlain Basin Program to partner with Watersheds Consulting Associates to conduct a shoreline assessment along Georgia Shore.

Following the award of an Ecosystem Restoration Program grant in the fall of 2017, FNLC hired Stone Environmental to identify, design, and implement stormwater best management practices to address flows to the gully and stabilize the gully channel. The overall goal of the project is to reduce sediment transported from the gully to Deer Brook. 

Beginning in 2018, FNLC partnered with the St. Albans Museum to create a workshop for school-age children on Lake Champlain’s cultural heritage and water quality issues. Lake Lessons has become an annual shoreside STEM educational program for fourth grade students in Franklin and Grand Isle Counties.

In 2017, FNLC received a grant to restore the Tyler Branch Watershed, which drains into the Missisquoi River. FNLC collaborated with AgriLab Tech and the Missisquoi River Basin Association to plant riparian buffers along the Tyler Branch.

Over the years, FNLC has received many grants to fund the creation of stormwater management plans for local areas. The plans include St. Albans Town, Highgate, Franklin, Fairfield, Georgia, Alburgh, Enosburg, Sheldon, and Swanton.