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Lewis Creek Watershed
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Lewis
Creek rises in the forested foothills of Vermont’s Green Mountains.
After rushing down their western flank, the river-sized “creek” meanders
across the gently sloping Champlain Valley
and finally reaches its destination—the broad blue waters of Lake
Champlain—after a 33-mile journey. Along the way, it drains 52,000 acres
and traverses five towns in two counties. It flows past farms and
villages, through deep woods and open pastures, over ancient ledges and
under more than 20 bridges, two of which are Chittenden County’s only
covered bridges. |
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From Starksboro to Ferrisburgh, the creek
is a haven for diverse wildlife including mink and otter, bobcat and
fisher, kingfisher and great blue heron, native brook trout and others.
Their habitats vary from mile to mile: from overhanging forests where
trout dart in shaded pools, to marshy areas where spring peepers
announce the arrival of warm weather, to open pastures where Holsteins
graze and blackbirds and bobolinks nest nearby.
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Lewis Creek has also been a focal point for
human settlement. The Waubanakee Indians who lived and fished along its
banks originally named the creek Sun-gah-nee-took, or the Fish-weir
River. In the 1800s, Europeans cleared the land and built mills and dams
to harness the water’s power. Many established family farms to cultivate
the fertile valley floor. During this time, Lewis Creek suffered from
deforestation, stream bank erosion, and sedimentation as the pioneers
sought their fortunes.
Over the next 100 years, Lewis Creek
recovered much of its original beauty. Today the mills are quiet, but
the creek’s floodplains remain an important agricultural resource, and
its lazy wanderings and dramatic waterfalls have become critically
important to wildlife and to people seeking refuge from urban life.
Unfortunately, much of Lewis Creek is located in the fastest growing
county in Vermont. As the population continues to expand into rural
areas, the Lewis Creek watershed is once again becoming threatened by
habitat degradation and fragmentation.
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For
thousands of years, Lewis Creek has shaped and been shaped by its
surrounding landscape and by the communities of plants, animals and
people depending on it. Now it is up to us to shape and protect its
future.
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