UVLT Awarded Funding for Watershed Protection Project

UVLT has been awarded funding from the Upper Connecticut River Mitigation and Enhancement Fund (MEF) to permanently protect ecologically important wetland and riparian areas along the main stem of the Ompompanoosuc River in Thetford, Vermont.  The MEF grant, together with a grant from the Thetford Conservation Commission, will allow UVLT to record and permanently steward a conservation easement on 37 acres of property owned by the Town along the East Branch of the Ompompanoosuc known as the Taylor Tract.

With 14 acres of wetlands and over two and half miles of river frontage, including one of the biggest remaining floodplain forest habitats in Vermont, the property attracts a multitude of bird species and provides critically needed habitat for the wood turtle, which has been spotted on the property and is a Species of Greatest Conservation Need in Vermont.  Last May, during and outing organized by the Thetford Conservation Commission, it only took a two-hour walk to identify 42 different bird species!

 

James Thaxton, Project Manager