River and Water Testing Results Suggest Caution to Summer Swimmers and Fisher-Folks              

With a 2006 spring and early summer season of drenching rains, our rivers have been put to the task of moving a "boatload" of water and sediments. We have watched the Lewis, LaPlatte and Little Otter rise to near flood stages some five times since the January and March floods. In certain erodable land areas, we also watched the stream channel shift and sway to accommodate the rate and volume of water and sediments. No doubt, the fish and aquatic life are suffocated, holding out in the safety of backwaters or watching their worlds get rearranged by Mother Nature and exacerbated further by unwise land use activities.

Since there is concerning soil movement in the river corridor, Lewis Creek Association has been facilitating a river corridor management plan in the Starksboro valley where very productive farms continuously battle with adjusting river channels in the highly erodable valley landscape.

On June 16, Rich Langdon, Vermont Fish Biologist, reminded resident fish lovers and land stewards that our fish communities are inherited from larger historical land forming events such as receding glaciers with compressed and expanding landforms that define today's surface water drainage systems. He explained that fish species residing below the "Principle Fall Line" have ancestors from America's mid west, while fishes in river reaches above the fall line have ancestors from the St Lawrence River.

Rich's new book, "Fishes of Vermont", tells the history of Vermont fishes and is an excellent resource book for anyone interested in fish history, Vermont aquatic natural communities and habitats. Suffocating sediments from upstream erosion, impervious surfaces, and road run off are conditions we can and should control through purposeful land use decision making today.

Kayaking and canoeing this season has been extended and exciting, but the constant rainfall and frequent repeated washings of fields, yards and roadways has magnified the runoff impacts to our river corridors and swimming holes. Laplatte Watershed Partnership, Lewis Creek Association, Addison County Riverwatch Collaborative, Vermont LaRosa Laboratory and others are in full swing with water testing from the Laplatte down to the Lemon Fair.

In 2006, the  upper bridge in Charlotte reached 770 mpns per 100 mls. For swimmable waters, the VT spec is 77, while the federal suggested level is 250.

If you are out enjoying the streamside picnic areas and swimming holes, please use plenty of common sense and don't ingest the waters. 

For more information on Lewis Creek water quality testing results,

you can go to the Agency of Natural Resources website. 

The code for Lewis Creek is LCR, and the number represents the river mile up from the mouth.