Looking back at FCNRCD's Spring Tree Plantings

The spring and summer months are busy for the the Franklin County Natural Resources Conservation District team. This is our fieldwork season, and our schedules fill up quickly with exciting projects. From tree plantings to soil sampling, site visits to community events, the FCNRCD team connects with land stewards and community members throughout Franklin County.

Though our work at the District changes from season to season—and sometimes from year to year—you can count on seeing our team planting tree saplings along streams each April and May. The goal of planting trees along streams is to widen the riparian buffer—a strip of diverse, woody vegetation along the banks of streams and rivers—which in turn helps improve water quality, streamside wildlife habitat, and flood resiliency. A buffer of 50 feet, with established trees and shrubs, does an excellent job of holding soil in place with deep, expansive root systems, which reduces the erosion of nutrient-rich soil into our waterways. Buffers also increase the filtration of stormwater runoff from roads and agricultural fields into the soil, instead of allowing stormwater to flow directly into a river or stream. Lastly, when we plant a 50-foot buffer next to a stream, we provide improved habitat for bugs, birds, mammals, and amphibians. Fish benefit from the increased shade and habitat created when woody debris falls into the water too!

The FCNRCD Team planting trees at Garland Park in Fairfax, VT on Earth Day.

This past spring, FCNRCD coordinated tree plantings at seven different sites in Fairfax, Enosburgh, Montgomery, Highgate, and Franklin. These efforts resulted in 16 acres and 7,629 linear feet of riparian buffer planted along streams throughout Franklin County. In total, 6,611 trees and shrubs were planted, providing food, habitat, and water quality benefits to the Lake Champlain watershed.

Speckled Alder shrub planted along stream.

We thank the land stewards who helped bring these tree-planting projects to fruition, as well as the many volunteers who came out to help us plant trees in sunshine, rain, and even snow!

Snowy tree planting!