Friends of The Winooski River Graphic

Support & Volunteer With The Friends

Please help the Friends continue our work in 2008. You can donate by mail by printing and mailing a donation form. You can make a secure online donation through the Network for Good.

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How you can help

Active membership in Friends can simply mean offering some small aspect of what you do best in your everyday life, and developing grassroots involvement through your network of friends and community.  For the website, we would like your stories about the river and your connection to it. We need photos and artwork of the river and its wildlife: big trout, little trout, turtles, otter, moose, you name it. Send us information on your favorite sections of the river: habitat conditions, mussel population, swimming holes, canoeing spots, community events, etc.

Specific skills and help are needed in the following areas: accounting, graphic design, web design/maintenance, organize educational and promotional events, fundraising

Highlights from 2007

FWR partnered with the Winooski Natural Resource Conservation District, the Central VT Regional Planning Commission and local volunteers in the Kingsbury Branch and the North Branch to conduct stream geomorphic assessments. These assessments, which evaluate the physical condition of the river, are used to identify and prioritize restoration and protection projects.

In the Winooski Headwaters, discussions have been initiated with several large landowners to permanently protect the river corridor. FWR also supported two riparian restoration projects in the Headwaters at Martins Bridge and at a farm in Cabot.

Flow Metering
Flow metering. Photo by George Springston

FWR supported a dedicated group of volunteers who collected water quality data in the Winooski Headwaters. This data will be used to refine the testing program and to pinpoint potential pollution sources.

In Barre City, FWR continued monitoring stormwater outfalls.   In addition, FWR worked with a teacher and students at Spaulding High School to train them on outfall monitoring.

FWR supported three river cleanups.  In Montpelier, over 40 volunteers spent a Saturday morning removing trash from the Stevens, the Winooski and the North Branch.  Montpelier & Spaulding High School students cleaned up the rivers near their schools.

FWR worked to connect people to the river and to each other.  Specific events included canoe trips at the North Branch Nature Center and a wagon ride along the river at the Two Rivers Center.  FWR also participated in the grand opening of LACE in Barre and the Winooski Harvest Festival.

In partnership with UVM Sea Grant, DEC and WNRCD, several Rain gardens, which filter run off were installed in Barre, Montpelier and East Montpelier.

FWR completed a redesigned and expanded website.   We also continued to expand our electronic communications.

Plans for 2008

• Utilize the stream geomorphic data from the North Branch and Kingsbury Branch to determine specific river protection and restoration strategies and projects.
• Riparian and streambank restoration project.
• Outreach and education to landowners to help them manage their properties to protect water quality and habitat. • Initiate a stream geomorphic study on the Stevens Branch.
• Develop tributary based partnerships of towns, nonprofits, civic groups, schools and businesses to work together to protect and restore the local rivers and stream.
• Continue to work with Barre City and other urban centers to reduced polluted runoff. • Volunteer water quality monitoring programs.
• Develop watershed education programs and materials that focus on land use and everyday human activities that impact river systems.
• The Winooski River Sojourn, a fun and educational paddling trip, highlighting challenges facing the river and celebrating its natural resources and history.