2011-2021: Tropical Storm Irene left its mark on Vt.'s landscape

Editor's note: This is the first of a summer-long series looking at the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene 10 years after it ravaged central Vermont. The Sun-Vermont Eagle will examine the impact of the storm, in and around Addison County in the Green Mountain National Forest's Rochester and Middlebury Ranger Districts, as well as climate change impacts locally. BRANDON GAP | Christopher Mattrick is a district ranger with the U.S. Forest Service's Rochester and Middlebury Ranger Districts office of the Green Mountain National Forest. He recalls how, in light of the upcoming tenth anniversary of Tropical Storm Irene, central Vermont recovered slowly from the big storm. The event is still fresh in the memories of many local residents. While Mattrick stresses that Irene was a significant natural event locally, he prefers to focus on preparing for the next 10 years with climate change and increased human presence in the national forest on the horizon. Below the east side of Brandon Gap, you can see where the White River begins its 60-mile-plus rush to the Connecticut River. The river's west branch source is alpine Skylight Pond near the Breadloaf Wilderness within Addison County. Near the settlement of Robinson, located a few miles below the gap, Mattrick stands at the site of 1930s Camp Rochester of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's signature Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The old campsite is along the White River (or West Branch River as it is called locally). From this narrow valley, you can see three counties encompassed by the national forest's northern unit: Addison, Rutland, and Windsor. All that remains of the Depression-era CCC camp is a single brown, wooden storage building. The field where the Stalag-like camp housing stood is now an area of fields and mixed woodlands. "Irene struck this area in August 2011," Mattrick said. "Right here along the West Branch, the storm hit hard. Residents along here were on an island, cut off by the floodwater." Mattrick tells how the emergency removal of gravel from the streambed, used to rapidly repair local bridges and roads destroyed by the storm, compounded the damage in the wake of the storm. "The gravel extraction contributed to channel over-widening; compaction of the bank left the riparian (bank) area and the channel with poor habitat for our native aquatic species such as fish." During the massive tropical downpour in August 2011, the raging river swept the area of its woody material, a normal component of Vermont rivers. Looking at the damage, Forest Service officials knew they had to mimic nature by adding logs back into the stream to restore wildlife habitat. "Four hundred giant spruce trees were logged in Goshen, trucked here, and then used to rebuild sections of the river bank. The pools created by the logs are now a super habitat for fish such as slimy sculpin, brook trout, and other species," according to Mattrick. He noted that local biology student groups visit the stream now; it's an ideal deep-pool snorkeling site where you can study fish behavior up close. Mattrick added that right after the storm, the Forest Service partnered with the White River Partnership, Trout Unlimited, the State of Vermont, local landowners, and volunteers to restore 1.75 miles of the West Branch River. As evidenced by the enormous spruce logs now in place, it was no small feat mimicking Mother Nature's random acts of river engineering. "It's called an engineered log jam," Mattrick said. It took seven long years following the storm to return the nearly two-mile section of the White River-West Branch to what it was like before Irene. Thankfully, the cooperative project has demonstrated that, with a focus on naturalized restoration, storm-ravaged lands and waters can be healed to benefit both wildlife and the people who live and work here.

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2011-2021: Tropical Storm Irene left its mark on Vt.'s landscape

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