News Release — Bennington County Conservation District
Nov. 27, 2018
Contact:
Shelly Stiles
802 442 2275
bccd@sover.net
www.bccdvt.org
Conservation district receives funding to assist Pownal protect water quality
Earlier this year, the Bennington County Conservation District was awarded a $5,080 grant by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation’s Ecosystem Restoration Program to assist the Town of Pownal purchase a bedding chopper. The mulcher dispenses a spray of finely milled hay or straw over newly seeded sites. The mulch conserves moisture and enhances establishment of the vegetative cover, and so helps reduce erosion on and along Town roads and other properties
The purchase addresses the requirements of the State’s municipal road general permit program. The permit requires, among other actions, that soils exposed by maintenance are to be seeded and mulched or otherwise stabilized.
The permit is one of several components of a new stormwater management program developed in response to the 2016 Vermont Clean Water Act. The Act was designed to reduce the discharge of pollutants such as phosphorus, sediments, trace heavy metals, hydrocarbons, and road salts to the waters of the state, especially Lake Champlain. The program also requires municipalities to prepare stormwater management plans, and perform road erosion inventories for all roads from which runoff drains to waterbodies. Seventy percent of the state’s highways are owned by municipalities.
The Town’s road crew inaugurated the mulcher in early October, and plans to use it routinely in 2019.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Bennington County Conservation District receives funding for water quality.