MANCHESTER — The Batten Kill Watershed Alliance got a chance to see how an older, yet similar, organization operates, at its annual meeting Tuesday.

Rep. David Deen, D-Westminster, a river steward for the Connecticut River Watershed Council and chairman of the House Fish and Wildlife Committee, spoke at the meeting about the Connecticut River watershed, the challenges it faced, how those challenges were met, and how some lessons might apply to the Batten Kill alliance.

"What it gives us is an example of a watershed alliance that's been around for 50 years," said Rep. Cynthia Browning, D-Arlington, and executive director of the Batten Kill alliance.

Browning said that what most intrigued her was that the Connecticut River council had partnerships with power companies with interests along the river. Deen said that representatives from power companies were involved with many processes and undertakings by the Connecticut River council.

She also said that it was interesting to see how the Connecticut group managed to incorporate four states into its operations, as the Connecticut River flows through Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and ends at Long Island Sound in Connecticut. The Batten Kill flows from Vermont into New York.

Deen's talk gave an overview of the Connecticut River's problems, but went into further detail where he thought the Connecticut and the Batten Kill's challenges might overlap.

One such area was invasive species, such as the didymo algae, also knows as "rock snot," which has previously found in the Batten Kill in small amounts. Didymo blooms make a carpet-like mass on the river bed and interfere with the natural "cobble structure" needed by various organisms in certain life cycle stages, Deen said.

"Deadbeat dams" are another issue the Connecticut river faces that might also raise some concern along the Batten Kill, Deen said. The dams in question are ones that no longer serve their original function, nor do they provide hydroelectric power.

Removing such dams is difficult, Deen said, as all of the permits required to put in a dam are necessary to take one out.

There is also the question of ownership and historic preservation. In some cases a dam is considered historically valuable and to remove it certain measures to document the removal must be taken. "Why the fish's history doesn't carry equal weight in the discussion is beyond me," Deen said.

He said that the task of getting all deadbeat dams removed was monumental, but necessary. "We're just going to keep slugging away at it," Deen said. "It's too important to not do it."

Deen said that the Dufresne dam along the Batten Kill was considered a possible candidate for removal by the Vermont Dam Task Force.

Another issue regarding dams Deen would like to see more done with in the legislature is standards regarding bypass zones, which is the area between the face of the dam, where the water comes out, and the place were it gets pumped back into the river after being sent through a hydroelectric generator. He said that a short bypass zone, where the river is essentially dry, can be worked with, but in cases where it could be half a mile long it was unacceptable.

When the meeting was opened up to questions, Deen was asked how the Bush administration had affected the Connecticut alliances work.

"I can't tell you how many last minute changes in and out of the environmental world the Bush administration has made," Deen said. He said that obtaining Critical Energy Infrastructure Information had become more difficult since the 911 terrorist attacks, and that he found himself need to file more Freedom of Information Act requests to various industries along the Connecticut River.

"I feel better about our problems already," Browning said.

The Batten Kill Watershed Alliance also voted in board members who were up for re-election. Ken Nicholson, Jay Skellie, and Tom Rosenbauer were re-elected as well as Board Chairman Greg Cuda and Vice Chair Peter Bellamy.

Contact Keith Whitcomb at kwhitcomb@benningtonbanner.com

Bennington Banner