Vermont NRCS Blog

Lifelong Vermonters Savanna and Torrey Crossman run a small farm in Fairfield, Vermont, where they primarily focus on cut flowers. They bought the 8-acre parcel in 2021, and decided they were going to start farming, with the aim of starting something that could be enjoyed and passed on to their children. Savanna has a background in farming as the eighth generation to grow up on a dairy farm in Sheldon, Vermont, and after completing her M.A. in Agronomy, hatched the plan with her husband Torrey. After his time in the Army was finished, they returned home and started Heart & Soil Farm.

Read the full story here: Farming with Heart & Soil | Natural Resources Conservation Service (usda.gov)

For more photos of the Crossman family and their farm, see here: Heart & Soil Farm 2024 | Flickr

Throughout the summer of 2024, NRCS is offering free soil screening for lead, in conjunction with the UVM Extension, across the state of Vermont. Bring 2 cups of your soil in a sealed, plastic bag and NRCS will perform analysis and give you the results on the spot!

Check the link to see where and when to take advantage: Soil Screening 2024 | Natural Resources Conservation Service (usda.gov)

State Engineer Bob Thompson led a workshop on bedded pack, and Guy Choiniere demonstrated the practice on his farm, where the workshop was held. The experience was designed to show other farmers, ranchers, and conservation partners how to implement the practice in Vermont. Choiniere family farm has successfully used the practice for several years, using NRCS technical and financial assistance. 

For more photos, see here: Bedded Pack Workshop 2024 | Flickr

Every day, the Natural Resources Conservation Service works to protect our soils. Our agency was, after all, founded as the Soil Erosion Service 90 years ago recognizing that the loss of soils was a “menace to the nation’s welfare”. The agency has since evolved to recognize many more natural resources –water, air, plants, animals, and humans - and the change in our name reflects this.

Soil, however, remains the backbone that ties these resources together and creates the fabric within and on which all other resources depend. Without healthy soils coating the geologic framework of our planet, plants suffer, water is not sufficiently filtered and transported, the carbon and soil particles that belong in the soil turn to pollutants in the air, and animals and humans suffer loss of productive land on which to survive. Because of this, it is important to take at least one day out of the year to reflect on and celebrate the importance and wonder of soils. The living matrix beneath our feet is a world of its own and the more we learn about it, the more we recognize its importance.

The basis of a soil is its parent material – the stuff from which the soil was formed. Most all of Vermont’s soils have formed over the last 10,000 years since being scraped and reworked by the Wisconsinan glaciation.

For being such a small state, Vermont has a surprisingly large variety of soil types derived from a diverse array of parent materials including the rocky and dense glacial till uplands, the silty alluvial floodplains, the sandy and gravelly glacial outwash deposits, and the notable silts and clays of the glacial lake beds of the Champlain Valley. The texture and chemistry of the soils is heavily dependent on the parent material from which the soils were formed.

To read the rest of the story, see: World Soils Day 2023 | Natural Resources Conservation Service (usda.gov)

Led by the landowner and Trust for Public Land, the new 592-acre conservation easement and habitat restoration plan will support and enhance sensitive and important land and waters -- including mature floodplain forest, white cedar swamps and montane spruce forest. 

The property lies amidst 27,000 acres of extensive wetland complexes and habitat for rare and endangered species made up of Victory State Forest, Darling State Forest, and Victory Basin Wildlife Management Area.

“It takes a true community effort to get a 15-year project of this magnitude across the finish line,” said landowner Laury Saligman of Conservation Collaboratives, who has been working toward conserving the property since 2008. “We are deeply thankful to the Trust for Public Land, the NRCS and other supporters for keeping forest conservation in the Northeast Kingdom a top priority.”

According to Two Countries One Forest and the Staying Connected Initiative -- bi-national coalitions of more than 80 public agencies, non-profit organizations and academic partners collaborating to conserve, restore and sustain landscape connections across the Northern Appalachian/Acadian Forest region -- the area is critical to regional wildlife connectivity for its role in providing a corridor from the northeast corner of Vermont to northern New Hampshire and Mount Megantic in southern Quebec, and east to the forests of Maine and Moosehead Lake.
The new conservation easement will protect upper elevation spruce-fir stands, and low elevation wetland areas around Weir Mill Brook for restoration and wildlife recovery. These protections will also serve as a natural climate tool able to sequester carbon and absorb floodwaters, safeguarding downstream communities – a particular point of concern following the devastating flooding throughout Vermont in the summer of 2023.

The restoration plan also will target recovery of the American marten, which is endangered in the State of Vermont, and only occurs in small numbers in the Northeast Kingdom and a small patch in the southern Green Mountains. Other declining species, such as blackburnian warbler, wood thrush, Louisiana water thrush and Northern waterthrush, will benefit from the conservation practices put into place through this easement. In addition to its ecological importance, Victory Hill is a destination for the renowned recreational trail network at the center of the property: 640 acres of mountain biking, hiking and backcountry skiing trails, which are a priority for future preservation once regulatory issues are resolved. The 592-acre easement surrounding the network preserves the trail system’s viewsheds and provides refuge for wildlife affected by trail usage.

“The success at Victory Hill is a prime example of how conservation can help deliver a variety of benefits, from climate resilience and wildlife connectivity to strengthening recreation opportunities that can raise awareness of this incredible natural area as well as contribute positively to nearby local economies,” said Shelby Semmes, Vice President of New England Region at Trust for Public Land.

Recognizing the intrinsic value of this unique forestland, Saligman began working towards conserving the property in 2008. She partnered with Trust for Public Land to explore different conservation opportunities, and USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Vermont was a perfect fit for her goal to conserve approximately half of her land—the most ecologically important forestland—through the Healthy Forest Reserve Program.

“We are pleased to have worked with Conservation Collaboratives to both protect this important property but also develop the HFRP habitat restoration plan with them that will, over the long term, promote complex, old growth forest conditions for American marten and many other species,” noted Toby Alexander, NRCS State Forester. “HFRP is a unique and valuable easement and habitat restoration program that is specifically targeted to Federally listed species, federal candidate species, and State listed species and their habitat needs.”

Trust for Public Land secured funding through the Long Island Sound Regional Conservation Partnership Program, which focuses on conservation of private lands to protect climate resiliency, carbon storage, water quality and wildlife habitat in the Connecticut River Basin and Long Island Sound Watershed. This was a perfect fit for the landowner’s own goals, as a conservationist and impact investor focused on climate. The project was supported by the Long Island Sound Regional Conservation Partnership Program, Canaday Foundation, Upper Connecticut River Mitigation Enhancement Grant, and the Lintilhac Foundation. The project was also supported by a grant from the Open Space Institute’s Transborder Fund, established to protect the ecologically significant forests of the Northern Appalachian/Acadian eco-region, an 80-million-acre region spanning the eastern edge of North America and the boundaries of the United States and Canada.

For more coverage, see: Victory Hill property becomes permanent conservation area | Vermont Public

The Vermont Association of Conservation Districts hosted their annual meeting at the Lake Morey Resort in Fairlee, VT, November 1, 2023. The event was a celebration of a year together working to improve the state of Vermont with a range of locally led conservation efforts. Between speeches, awards, and good food, VACD and its partners allowed themselves a well-earned evening of celebration while also looking ahead to the work to be done in the upcoming year!

For more information on the VACD, see here: Vermont Association of Conservation Districts. Our Land. Our Water. Our Future. (vacd.org)

For more photos, see here: VACD Annual Dinner, Nov 2023 | Flickr

State Engineer Bob Thompson attended a job fair aimed at engineering students at the Davis Center at the University of Vermont on November 1, 2023. The NRCS is in the middle of an historic hiring campaign in order to bring more conservation to states around the country. Although the job fair was targeted primarily at engineering students, the NRCS is hiring for  permanent positions and internships in a variety of fields.

For more information, click the link or visit USAJobs.gov: USAJOBS - Search

The Soils/Land Judging Contest is organized by the Vermont Agriculture Teachers Association and the Future Farmers of America. These contests are held in states across the country, and each state tailors its competition to the land and the programs in their state. Three NRCS employees--soil scientist Chadd Cupit, soil scientist Paul Gadecki, and soil scientist Lucy Zendzian--assisted by preparing the sites, answering questions, and observing students in the field as they worked to identify various soil types. 

The manual and contest used by the Vermont Agriculture Teachers Association was designed by retired NRCS soil conservationist Tom Villar. The Vermont State University-Randolph campus allowed use of the land for the competition, which is perfect due to its central location in the state. 

This year, there were students competing from career centers and high schools from across the state. The schools and programs that competed this year were from Brattleboro, Springfield, Hardwick, Cambridge, Newport, Middlebury, Enosburg, Swanton, and Enosburg.

For more pictures, see here: Soil Judging Event, Oct 2023 | Flickr

The Central Vermont Soils Tour, led by Maggie Payne, the VT State Soil Scientist, highlighted soils in Windsor and eastern Rutland counties, but these soils and their parent materials are common in many parts of Vermont. The focus for the nine NRCS employees who went on the tour was how parent material, topography and climate affect the properties of soils and land use. The tour began near the Connecticut River at an elevation of about 400 feet and worked its way west, ending at the upper Ottauquechee River floodplain near West Bridgewater. Along the way, the tour showed soils formed in lacustrine silts, glaciofluvial sands, glacial till with various characteristics, organic deposits, and recent alluvium. Additionally, there were two different soil temperature zones (mesic and frigid) covered, and briefly discusseda third – the cryic soil temperature zone above 3000 feet or so.

For more photos, see here: Central VT Soils Tour, Oct 2023 | Flickr

The Vermont NRCS team and partners came together in Randolph Center, VT, to talk about the upcoming fiscal year. The day-long session featured presentations from engineering, programs, emergency programs, training, business tools, and employee wellness that were focused on the work ahead for the agency and how we can best serve Vermont agricultural producers of all sizes. 

For more photos, click here: FY24 Conservation Rollout Meeting | Flickr

Federal employment has specific requirements that nave to be met. Being a Pathways intern allows students who are still in college to bypass those requirements to become an intern, which in turn gives them time and understanding to complete specific college credit requirements they need to have before they can become full NRCS employees. Additionally, it can give students an insight into the HR process, so they are better prepared when the time comes to apply to be converted from an intern to a full employee.

Acknowledging that the Federal Government benefits from a diverse workforce that includes students and recent graduates, Executive Order 13562 established two new programs and modified another. They are the Internship Program for current students; the Recent Graduates Program for people who have recently graduated from qualifying educational institutions or programs (2 years from the date the graduate completed an academic course of study); and the reinvigorated Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) Program for people who obtained an advanced degree (e.g., graduate or professional degree) within the preceding two years.

These programs, collectively the Pathways Programs, are streamlined developmental programs tailored to promote employment opportunities for students and recent graduates in the Federal workforce. The Pathways Programs aim to improve recruiting efforts, offer clear paths to Federal internships for students from high school through post-graduate school and to careers for recent graduates, and to provide meaningful training and career development opportunities for individuals who are at the beginning of their Federal service.

“I would recommend it to anyone; it’s very helpful in terms of meeting new people, and it’s a great way to begin your journey if you want to have a career in the federal government. I feel like everyone at NRCS looked out for me and wanted the best for me, whether that’s a career with NRCS or not. That really meant a lot,” said Natalie Falls, a Pathways intern from Richmond, Virginia, who is a senior at Virgina Tech.

Click here for the full story: Pathways to Success | Natural Resources Conservation Service (usda.gov)

For more information about the Pathways Programs, contact your local USDA service center. 

The National Grazing Lands Coalition came to Vermont via a bus tour, September 5-7, 2023. The tour made stops at Shelburne Farms, Philo Ridge Farm, Choiniere Family Farm, Bread & Butter Farm, and Maple Wind Farm. Attendees from all over the country braved the heat and got to see each farm up close and personal.

Each stop on the bus tour included information about the farm, and a guided tour of the facilities, along with food samples and animal exhibits. While the coalition is focused on grazing, each farm had something unique to offer that covered all types of farming and agricultural production. 

For more photos, see here: Nat GLC Bus Tour, Sep 2023 | Flickr

For more information on the National Grazing Lands Coalition, click here: Home - National Grazing Lands Coalition

The NRCS team went to listen and support an event around the lessons learned from a dam removal project in Bakersfield, VT, on August 30, 2023. The dam was removed in August of 2021, on private land.

The event was hosted by the Franklin County Natural Resources Conservation District (NRCD) and provided history of the site, how the project was initiated and then completed, and what lessons have been learned since that time that can be applied to future projects like this. Travis Thomason, the State Conservationist, Bob Thompson, the State Engineer, and Stephi Drago, NRCS Biologist, traveled to Bakersfield to learn about the project and see how this might be applicable to future work for NRCS.

For more photos, see the full set here: Dam Removal, Aug 2023 | Flickr

Tess Overstreet, a rising high school senior from Columbia, South Carolina, got to experience this adventure in July when she served as an Earth Team volunteer with the Vermont USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for a week during her summer vacation. The week included three days in the field shadowing the Vermont NRCS wetlands team and wrapped up with a chance to track and monitor wood turtle sites alongside one of the NRCS conservation partners, The Orianne Society.

Overstreet got an immersive and hands-on learning experience: from kayaking through a permanently protected wetland easement in Pittsford, to visiting wetland easements in Hinesburg, to checking out computer imagery back at the NRCS State Office. During her time in the office, Overstreet learned about natural resource data collected by the NRCS wetlands team which helps quantify the positive impacts wetlands provide during storm and flood events. The NRCS team explained to Overstreet how their use of drone imagery and GIS mapping work to dive into the science of conservation and measure the environmental benefits of conservation.

Read the full story here: Earth Team Volunteer Spotlight: Tess Overstreet | Natural Resources Conservation Service (usda.gov)

See more photos here: Earth Team Spotlight: Tess Overstreet | Flickr

To volunteer with the NRCS Earth Team, contact your local USDA Service Center or the Public Affairs Specialist, Trevor Saylor, at trevor.saylor@usda.gov.

Francisco Cabas owns and operates about 30 acres of land in Halifax, Vermont, which he purchased in 2021. Cabas was optimistic—and a little overwhelmed—as he began navigating what, to him, felt like limitless opportunities. His land was a blank canvas upon which he could paint whatever future he wanted. Cabas’ overarching goal was to become a steward of the land, maintaining and promoting the existing ecological community on his land, with an emphasis on sustainability. Unsure how to make this a reality, he reached out to the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for help; this sparked the beginning of Cabas’ relationship with NRCS.

After learning about NRCS through his contracted forester, Cabas reached out in 2021 to begin navigating the process of helping the land that he owned live up to its natural potential. Working with different environmental groups—including Vermont Fish and Wildlife and the National Wild Turkey Foundation—gave Cabas confidence and a better understanding of how to protect and maintain his land going forward.

To read the full story: For Cabas, confidence and conservation go hand in hand | Natural Resources Conservation Service (usda.gov)

On August 16th, Felix Jimenez led a class of 19 participants from the Vermont and Rhode Island NRCS, Natural Resources Conservation Districts, and Vermont Association of Conservation District met at the Colchester office for a morning session in the classroom. The afternoon was in the field at Shelburne Farms as the class learned the basics of fencing. 

The class was part of the ongoing effort by the state resource staff to train new staff and keep up-to-date with the latest developments in the practice standards. 

For more information about the class, or to register for the next session, contact Felix Jimenez at felix.jimenez@usda.gov.

Undersecretary for Farm Production and Conservation Robert Bonnie visited Vermont August 14-15, 2023, to see the devastation from recent flooding and weather incidents. Agricultural producers in Vermont and several other Northeastern states have been deeply impacted by both a frost event in May and then historic flooding in July.

The undersecretary made several stops along the way, including the Intervale Center in Burlington, Conant’s Riverside Farm in Richmond, Champlain Orchards in Shoreham, and the Strafford Creamery in Strafford. Bonnie also spoke briefly at the Vermont Council on Rural Development Leadership Summit in Randolph Center.

At an event organized at Conant’s Riverside Farm, which was also attended by U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch, Bonnie spoke about what United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs are in place to help producers. The USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Risk Management Agency (RMA), all of which Bonnie oversees, have programs in place to help farmers, ranchers and forest landowners recover from losses, mitigate risk and prepare for future natural disasters.

“The production and physical losses to flooding have devastated farmers and ranchers in the Northeast,” Bonnie said. “The challenge with an event like this, is it often overwhelms those programs, so it’s important for Congress to think about, are there additional resources that we need.”

NRCS Vermont has already announced programs that will help those who have suffered from the disasters, including $4 million dollars to assist the victims of the recent floods across the state. FSA and RMA have also authorized policy flexibilities for key disaster assistance programs and crop insurance to aid Northeast agricultural operations that have been significantly impacted by recent flooding.

At the final stop of his visit, Bonnie ate ice cream at the Strafford Creamery, enjoying the various flavors after a tour of the facility. Spirits were high despite the rain, and Bonnie spoke with the owners about what USDA can be doing to improve its programs and responsiveness—not only in times of disaster, but more broadly. 

For the full set of photos, see here: US Bonnie, Aug 2023 | Flickr

Felix Jimenez, state grazing specialist, speaks to Pathways students and employees during a prescribed grazing training class at the NRCS state office in Colchester, VT, on July 28, 2023. The class is meant for Pathways students, or other employees who want to learn more about the technique.

Anyone interested in the class should contact Felix Jimenez: felix.jimenez@usda.gov

NRCS participated in the annual UVM Extension Field Day in Alburgh, VT, July 27, 2023. Options for afternoon intensive sessions included soil health (greenhouse gases and biochar); integrated pest management, neonics and pollinators; malt barley (tastings and sensory information); forages (energy content and harvesting at different heights) and hemp processing. In addition, there were opportunities to check out new equipment and visit with local vendors and businesses.

The NRCS soil health trailer was deployed for visitors to see soil health and erosion in action, and the NRCS Outreach booth greeted visitors with a smile. The day consisted of presentations, food, networking, and learning about all the great work being done at Borderview Farm in Alburgh, VT. 

See more photos here: UVM Field Day - 2023 | Flickr

For the flyer from UVM, see here: 2023_Annual_Field_Day_Flyer_TwoPage.pdf (uvm.edu)

NRCS employees and partners from Maine, Washington, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont attended the week-long class, which was put on by the NRCS-Vermont team. The class is the key step in becoming a certified conservation planner, and brings together the key parts of everything NRCS does as an agency and prepares students to go out and execute the goal of the agency, to help people help the land.

If you'd like more information about the class, reach out to the Vermont State Resource Conservationist Joe Buford at joe.buford@usda.gov.

For more photos, see Conservation Planning Part II | Flickr

NRCS staff and partners attended a ‘healthy trees’ walk and talk at Meach Cove Farms in Shelburne, Vermont. Chris Davis, the farm’s Project Manager, and Ali Kosiba, an Assistant Professor of Forestry at the University of Vermont, led the group on a walk through the farm. In addition to exploring historical land use of the farm, participants discussed NRCS practices related to agroforestry, silvopasture, and forest farming.  

More photos are available here. 

The theme for National Dam Safety Awareness Day 2023 is, "Dam Safety is a shared responsibility. Know your risk, know your role, know the benefits of dams and take action."

Every year, Dam Safety Awareness Day is on May 31 in memoriam of the 2,220 people who lost their lives in the 1889 South Fork Dam failure near Johnston, Pennsylvania. The collapse of the South Fork Dam was a tragedy and is not an isolated incident. As we observe and reflect on the South Fork Dam tragedy 133 years later, we encourage you to understand the continued importance of dam safety, the roles various parties play, current issues, and why investment in this infrastructure is urgently needed.

Recent crises following heavy seasonal rains, like the failure of the Oroville Dam spillway in California (2017) or the failure of the Edenville and Sanford dams in Michigan (2020), have made major headlines, highlighting the poor condition of many of the nation's dams. Proper maintenance, routine inspection, necessary upgrades, and implementation of an Emergency Action Plan can ensure optimal conditions, protecting public health, safety, and welfare.

National Dam Safety Awareness Day not only commemorates the past, it calls us to action. Dam Safety is a shared responsibility. Know your risk, know your role, know the benefits of dams and take action. Make a difference in your community and join FEMA in support of National Dam Safety Awareness Day on May 31.

NRCS has a small watershed program that can look at construction of new dams, potential repair of existing dams for flood control and other purposes, or removal of dams to not only assist with threats to downstream populations and improve migration of fish and other aquatic species in the waterways. For more information, please contact your local NRCS office or contact:

• Les Wright (802)775-8034 x123
• Bob Thompson (802)951-6796 x232

Travis Thomason, NRCS State Conservationist, visited Savage View Farm on Grand Isle, VT, with Senator Peter Welch and USDA-Rural Development State Director Sarah Waring. The visit was in recognition of Earth Day, and to highlight the benefits of the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) assistance that the farm had received to install a new anaerobic digester.