Bolton Floodplain Inventory
The Town of Bolton Conservation Commission engaged Arrowwood Environmental to perform a Floodplain Forest Inventory, including documenting existing flora (woody and herbaceous) and areas of existing forest within the the Town, on both sides of the Winooski River. This was accomplished with both the help of those floodplain landowners who allowed access to their land and a survey conducted from the river itself, and use of aerial maps. The inventory expands upon Arrowood's previous work for the Science to Action Project (2011) and will provide Bolton with a baseline inventory to better inform town planning, including planning preparedness for extreme weather and flood resilience.
Bolton
Inventory
Arrowwood is assessing the extent and health of Bolton's Winooski River floodplain, & will be providing both a description and a map of current floodplain conditions along with a report that makes specific recommendations regarding: possible habitat management and restoration. These will allow us to have a more accurate and complete view of the Bolton floodplain that we can then share with our Select Board, Planning Commission, Development Review Board and the public.
The town of Bolton's receipt of the AVCC Tiny Grant funds allowed this inventory to proceed as planned after the town did not receive any funding through a Watershed grant that we had hoped to get; late in our planning we were able to find other sources of funding, including the AVCC grant. The funding allows for the inventory to include field work time, a final presentation and a report including management recommendations, and a map.
The 2 major challenges to accomplishing this inventory were gaining access to privately held land along the Winooski floodplain and not receiving funding from the first grant applied for, a Watershed grant from the state of Vermont. Land where access was not granted was viewed from the river itself, and with use of most current maps.