Northeast Kingdom conservation organizations and communities are pushing to add three waterways to the federal Wild and Scenic River System, the country’s strongest tool to protect rivers.
The program, known as a sort of “National Park System for rivers,” provides funding and support to free-flowing rivers with outstanding natural, cultural or recreational value. Currently, 226 rivers make up the system, with a mere six in northern New England. Two are in Vermont: the Upper Missisquoi and Trout rivers, both added to the system in 2014.
Now, three other northern Vermont waterways are working their way through the designation process, which requires congressional action. A bill to authorize a study of the Nulhegan River and Paul Stream was introduced into Congress in 2023 and unanimously approved by the Senate. However, it has yet to make headway in the House.
Separately, the Memphremagog Watershed Association is gathering letters of community support for a formal study of the Clyde River and plans to deliver them to Vermont’s congressional delegation later this summer.
TJ Dezotell, an outdoor guide who is president of the Northeast Kingdom chapter of Trout Unlimited, grew up fishing the Nulhegan River and Paul Stream.
“I care about them because they represent the kind of Vermont that still feels wild,” he said. “They’re places where healthy fish populations and working forests, our local communities, our outdoor traditions all coexist. I feel like if we lose places like this, we don’t get them back.”
The Wild and Scenic River System was created in 1968, a time of unrestrained development of rivers, including the creation of dams, waste dumping and straightening of stream channels. Legislation in that era also created the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act.
Most of the rivers classified as part of the system flow through federal lands in the West and were unilaterally designated by the government. In 1992, however, the “Partnership Wild and Scenic” process was created, which protects waterways without federal acquisition and management. Instead, these rivers are managed jointly by a local council and the National Park Service, which provides technical and financial support. The designation is typically spurred by lengthy local efforts, as are underway for the Clyde and Nulhegan rivers and Paul Stream.
Upper Missisquoi and Trout: Covered bridges, swimming holes and unique rock
The Upper Missisquoi and its largest tributary, the Trout River, in northwestern Vermont were designated Partnership Wild and Scenic Rivers in December 2014 after about a decade of work by local communities and the Missisquoi River Basin Association.
Not only must Congress authorize a multiyear study of a river’s eligibility for the program as well as approve its final designation, but all towns in the waterway’s area also have to approve the classification at town meeting. For the Missisquoi and Trout, only Lowell voted no, so the portion of the Trout River in that town does not have the designation.
“It’s fascinating to me how it really was sort of a one-on-one, talk to your neighbors, see if they’re interested” kind of project, said Lindsey Wight, executive director of both the Missisquoi River Basin Association and the Upper Missisquoi and Trout Rivers Wild & Scenic Committee.
Wight said the people involved in the process confronted misperceptions about what the federal designation means. No land changes hands, and the only real restriction is that a dam cannot be built on the river. There are some additional reviews during any construction work near a Wild and Scenic river, to make sure the river’s quality is preserved, she said.
“Almost 12 years in, I’m happy to report that we haven’t had the feds come in and stop any actions. It hasn’t changed people’s way of interacting with the river,” Wight said.
The Upper Missisquoi and Trout rivers were designated due to their outstanding scenery, recreation, history and geology. The rivers boast the greatest concentration of covered bridges of any area in the country, are home to one of the largest concentrations of serpentine rock outcrops in the nation, and have numerous deep, picturesque swimming holes as well as the largest natural, undammed falls in the state.
The rivers now receive an annual share of congressionally appropriated funds; recently, about $210,000 per year has been spent locally, Wight said. The majority of that funding is distributed through the committee’s small grants program, providing money for things like educational events, erosion reduction projects, and town purchases of boats and stand-up paddleboards to loan out.
Being a part of a national system has also increased tourism. Wight gets calls from people who see the rivers on the national map and are interested in visiting.
Hearing about the successes of the Upper Missisquoi and Trout rivers’ designation helped inspire the process to potentially classify the Clyde and Nulhegan rivers and Paul Stream as Wild and Scenic, project organizers say.
Nulhegan and Paul Stream: Where “animals are able to move”
The effort to designate the Nulhegan River and Paul Stream, located deep in the most remote area of the Northeast Kingdom, began about six years ago, spearheaded by the Vermont River Conservancy and Friends of the Nulhegan Basin.
The waterways are in the Kingdom Heritage Lands, 132,000 acres of former and current timberland conserved for public access since 1998. The area abounds with wildlife and is sparsely populated, a place where “animals are able to move the way they’re supposed to move,” according to Dezotell.
The Nulhegan River is home to boreal habitats and animals often found farther north, while Paul Stream is the epitome of a perfect brook trout stream, said Dezotell. Both waterways flow into the Connecticut River and are known for their clean water, intact native fisheries, productive timberlands and rich cultural and natural history.
The initial effort to designate the two waterways and their eligible tributaries was led by Noah Pollock, who worked for the Vermont River Conservancy at the time. He conducted an informal scoping study and met with every community in the area; all but one town penned a letter of support that was delivered to Vermont’s congressional delegation in early 2022, Pollock said.
However, the project’s greatest stumbling block is Congress, where the bill to authorize a study of the designation waits in committee.
“There’s real value in bringing together partners in watersheds, because they cross jurisdictional boundaries,” Pollock said. “There’s a handful of good watershed groups in the state, no question about it, but not nearly enough compared to the challenges rivers face.”
Dezotell hopes that a future federal designation could fund efforts to support brook trout habitat and reduce downstream flooding as well as create additional recreation access points.
Clyde River: Rare natural communities, famed fishing and diverse paddling
The most recent designation effort is taking place on the Clyde River, known for its landlocked Atlantic salmon and brook trout fishery as well as for having a number of unique habitats. The Upper Clyde is also host to a large intermediate fen, a globally rare natural community made up of acres of floating peat and hosting an abundance of uncommon species.
Ben Applegate, the watershed project coordinator for the Memphremagog Watershed Association, conducted a scoping study of the river and is gathering local letters of support to present to Vermont’s congressional delegation.
Applegate said the Clyde River has an especially scenic feel and some of the best class II whitewater paddling in northeastern Vermont as well as excellent flatwater. Between fishing and paddling, there is a very active usage by locals and people in the region and beyond, he said.
For Applegate, the Partnership Wild and Scenic Rivers Program’s most salient benefit is that it engages the community.
“It’s a way of celebrating what you have and therefore being better stewards of it,” he said. “This really is a partnership of the federal government through the park service with the local communities, where local communities are in the lead. That’s pretty appealing, especially in an area that prizes its independence like the Northeast Kingdom does.”
Applegate hopes that a future designation would fund a community grants program like what is utilized by the Upper Missisquoi and Trout Rivers Wild & Scenic Committee, allowing locals to decide where the federal dollars would be best used.
Due to the lengthy process to classify a waterway, Applegate is also working to build a coalition of people who are excited about the Clyde River and can sustain the effort.
Though distinct, the five current and proposed Wild and Scenic rivers have a through-line as they wind their way across northern Vermont: They make up the state’s portion of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail, connected waterways running from the Adirondacks to northern Maine along traditional routes used by Indigenous people.
Applegate said most people experience their local rivers merely when they drive over a bridge or when flooding occurs. The designation, he said, would bring people more into the conversation about their natural environment.
“Given our world and all of its challenges, we need to live in more partnership with our surroundings,” he said. “That’s kind of the broader goal with so many of our environmental efforts is that we just need to be a part of these systems and not treat them as separate.”
