ARLINGTON - The Green Mountain National Forest and two of its watershed partners have been recognized by the U.S. Forest Service for going beyond their boundaries to protect ecosystems.

The Batten Kill Watershed Alliance and the White River Partnership, along with the Green Mountain National Forest, will send representatives to Milwaukee in December to accept an award in the category.

The award recognized the partnership between Green Mountain National Forest and the watershed groups, said Cynthia Browning, executive director of the Batten Kill Watershed Alliance. She said only a small part of the Batten Kill runs through GreenMountain National Forest boundaries, but their help in restoring trout habitat along the section of the river that does not run through National Forest land has been instrumental.

She said a half-mile of river was restored between 2006 and 2007, and another half-mile in 2008. She said the Batten Kill Watershed Alliance plans to restore one mile of river in 2009.

To pay for the work along the river, Browning said donations have been received from the Orvis Company, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Trout and Salmon Foundation and other groups. She said the donations are matched at 60 percent by the Green Mountain National Forest, making a total of $130,000 that has been put into the river projects so far.

She said the trout population in the Batten Kill is the largest indicator of the alliance's success in working with the Green Mountain National Forest. One section of the river has shown a 600 percent increase in the trout population since the restoration work began. Biologists from the Vermont State Fish and Wildlife Department conducted a trout census over the summer, and the data show the restoration has worked, Browning said.

Browning said the bank and trout habitat restoration work near where the Green River flows into the Batten Kill would not have been possible without help from Scott Wixsom, a fisheries biologist with the Green Mountain National Forest, who designed the habitat restoration structures and supervised the installation of rootwads and slate "feeding stations." The rootwad structures are tree roots that provide shelter for trout, which need cool water temperatures and cover from predators.

Browning said the expertise the Green Mountain National Forest provided was indispensable.

She said that unless the Green Mountain National Forest forms local partnerships, it cannot work outside the boundaries of its land. She added that everything in the river flows in and out to somewhere, and partnerships are necessary to keep the ecosystems clean.

The Batten Kill Watershed Alliance, the White River Partnership and the Green Mountain National Forest were nominated by Steve Roy of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. In his report, he said the three groups deserve recognition for their work to educate the public on river management and the spread of invasive species, notably didymo algae, or "rock snot."

Didymo blooms have not been seen on the Batten Kill, but can cover the river bed in algae and interrupt insect lifecycles, which in turns harms the food chain.

Contact Keith Whitcomb at kwhitcomb@benningtonbanner.com.

Bennington Banner