Lewis Creek Association develops projects in Lewis Creek watershed

The Lewis Creek Association and landowners have partnered to improve water quality in Lewis Creek.
With funding from a Watersheds United Vermont Project Development Block grant from the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, the association prioritized projects in 2023, then sent letters to landowners, visited properties and investigated potential projects from river corridor easements to tree plantings to removing old bridge abutments.

Photo by Jessica Louisos.
A Lewis Creek Association project team visits with landowners at a potential tree-planting site.
Photo by Jessica Louisos. A Lewis Creek Association project team visits with landowners at a potential tree-planting site.

The Lewis Creek Association has now prepared two high priority projects for the next step, which is applying for grants for more design work or implementation. One of these projects is a tree- and shrub-planting project along a creek in Hinesburg, for which the association has received funding to complete this fall.

The other project is a gravel road in Starksboro that has been eroding, dumping sediment and pollutants into Lewis Creek. If the grant is approved, it will allow Lewis Creek Association to hire engineers to design road fixes.
Learn more about Lake Champlain’s water-quality problems and what landowners can do to improve water quality in a 17-minute presentation at bit.ly/lca-wq-videos. These include slowing water down, spreading it out and sinking it into the ground. These are the three ‘S’ words that are central to Lewis Creek Association’s Ahead of the Storm program. Learn more about this program at bit.ly/lca-aots. It is crucial that we all do our part to improve water quality in small ways.

(Kate Kelly is program manager of the Lewis Creek Association.)