Waitsfield is working on a grant that could help the town study how three flood plains along the Mad River might be reconnected to the main stem of the river.
The town’s conservation commission, at a September 16 meeting, voted to draft a letter of support for development of the Waitsfield Floodplain Restoration Project, with the Conservation Commission partnering with a contractor and the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission (CVRPC) on the project.
THREE INUNDATION AREAS
At the September meeting planning commissioner Alice Peal told the commission that there are three inundation areas along the river in Waitsfield that are no longer connected to the flood plain. These are at the Austin parcel, the Farley Riverside Park parcel, and the lower area of the Fairgrounds parcel. There is Clean Water Programming grant funding available to study and engineer reconnection solutions. Grant eligibility is based on reducing the phosphorus that flows into Lake Champlain and providing more flood plains (via reconnection) allows a raging river to spread out further, slowing it and allowing for nutrient deposition.
Brian Voigt, a former planning commissioner who is now with CVRPC told the commission that in addition to phosphorus mitigation, preventing the spread of invasive species might be part of such a project.
Conservation commissioner Phil Huffman said reconnecting flood plains may also provide better protection for downstream infrastructure and houses, making them less vulnerable if the river has more room to spread out.
‘MOVE AS IT NEEDS’
“It is important ecologically for the river to be able to move as it needs to. Our rivers and streams in Vermont have been disconnected from their natural flood plains due to human alteration over centuries. The Mad River’s natural flood plain is on both sides of the river and these areas have been disconnected by the degree of incision -- the way the river has carved its way deeper – from the normal level of the river from the top of the bank,” Huffman explained.
There are several ways to reconnect flood plains, including lowering banks on disconnected parcels and removing man-made berms and other impediments, he said.
At the meeting Voigt said that Ira Shadis, executive director of Friends of the Mad River, could likely be a partner or project lead if a study grant and later an implementation grant is received.
SIMPLER SOLUTIONS
Shadis said that there are some simpler solutions for reconnecting flood plains, including the one by the Austin parcel that is currently disconnected from the rest of the flood plain. On that particular parcel, there is a raised urban mound around a section of the hayfield.
“That could be re moved right now with a tractor and a couple of days of work. That allows the river, when it rises, to more quickly access that entire flood plain before it gets higher and increases in intensity,” Shadis said.
In some areas, Shadis said, current thinking supports raising river levels by the strategic addition of wood (downed trees) which slow water and also increase levels so that disconnected flood plains are accessible. That may not be appropriate for the main stem of the Mad River but could be helpful for tributaries that feed the Mad River.
