2018 White River Tactical Basin Plan
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Vermont Agency of Natural Resources Watershed Management Division 2018 White River Basin – Basin 9 TACTICAL BASIN PLAN DRAFT The White River Mainstem below the confluence of the Tweed River in Stockbridge. BASIN 9 – WHITE RIVER TACTICAL BASIN PLAN - DRAFT 1 Approved: ----------------------------------------- ------------------------- Emily Boedecker, Commissioner Date Department of Environmental Conservation -------------------------------------- ------------------------- Julie Moore, Secretary Date Agency of Natural Resources Photo credit: Jim Deshler The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources is an equal opportunity agency and offers all persons the benefits of participating in each of its programs and competing in all areas of employment regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual preference, or other non-merit factors. This document is available upon request in large print, braille or audiocassette. VT Relay Service for the Hearing Impaired 1-800-253-0191 TDD>Voice - 1-800-253-0195 Voice>TDD BASIN 9 – WHITE RIVER TACTICAL BASIN PLAN - DRAFT 2 All Towns Basin 9 Barnard Goshen* Pittsfield Stockbridge Bethel Granville Pomfret Strafford* Braintree Hancock Ripton* Tunbridge Bridgewater* Hartford Randolph Vershire* Brookfield Killington* Rochester Warren* Chelsea Mendon* Royalton Washington Chittenden Norwich Sharon Williamstown *Only a very small portion of the town is in the watershed Basin 9 BASIN 9 – WHITE RIVER TACTICAL BASIN PLAN - DRAFT 3 White River Basin Tactical Plan Overview Contents Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................... 8 Chapter 1 – Watershed Description and Tactical Basin Planning Process ................................... 12 A. White River Watershed Overview ........................................................................................ 12 B. Land Use and Water Quality ................................................................................................. 13 C. Tactical Basin Planning Process ............................................................................................. 15 Chapter 2 – Priority Areas for Restoration and Protection .......................................................... 16 A. Priority Waters for Restoration ............................................................................................. 17 B. Impaired and Priority Surface Waters ................................................................................... 18 C. Priority Waters for Protective Action .................................................................................... 25 Chapter 3 – Water Quality in the Basin ........................................................................................ 36 A. Climate Change and Localized Watershed Implications ....................................................... 36 B. Monitoring and Assessment Data Summary 2013-2017 ...................................................... 42 Chapter 4 – Regulations and Initiatives for Protecting and Maintaining Water Quality.............. 74 A. Regulations to Protect and Maintain Water Quality ............................................................ 74 B. Initiatives for Protecting and Maintaining Water Quality .................................................... 79 Chapter 5 – Summary Implementation Table: Protection and Restoration Actions .................... 82 A. Coordination of Watershed Partners .................................................................................... 83 B. List of Funding Opportunities ................................................................................................ 83 C. White River Basin Implementation Priorities ........................................................................ 85 References .................................................................................................................................. 103 Appendix A. 2013 Basin 9 Report Card ....................................................................................... 106 Appendix B. Climate Change Signal Figures ................................................................................ 122 Appendix C. Monitoring and Assessment Data .......................................................................... 126 Appendix D. Lakes in the White River Watershed ...................................................................... 128 Appendix E. Dams in the White River Watershed ...................................................................... 129 Appendix F. Municipal Water Quality Protectiveness Table ...................................................... 133 Appendix G. Updates to Forestry AMPs ..................................................................................... 144 BASIN 9 – WHITE RIVER TACTICAL BASIN PLAN - DRAFT 4 List of Figures Figure 1. High quality waters of the White River basin .................................................................. 9 Figure 2. Priority waters and actions for remediation in the White River basin .......................... 10 Figure 3. Targeted waters for remediation in the White River basin ........................................... 11 Figure 4. Rivers and streams in the White River basin. ................................................................ 12 Figure 5. Land cover estimates for the five major sub-basins of the White River watershed ..... 14 Figure 6. The ten major stressors used to develop remediation actions for surface waters. ...... 16 Figure 7. Impaired, stressed and altered priority surface waters in the White River Basin ........ 20 Figure 8. Actions identified for water quality protection in the 2018 White River TBP ............... 25 Figure 9. Recommended and existing high-quality waters of the White River basin .................. 26 Figure 10. Basin 9 A(1) waters identified in the VT Water Quality Standards (blue hatch) and waters meeting B(1) criteria for Aquatic Biota (red hatch) for reclassification ........................... 30 Figure 11. Very good waters for recreational fishing in the White River ..................................... 33 Figure 12. Location and watershed extent of unregulated USGS gages in Basin 9. ..................... 38 Figure 13. Mean and median annual daily flow at the Ayers Brook USGS gage .......................... 39 Figure 14. Mean and median annual daily flow at the White River USGS gage ........................... 39 Figure 15. Relative % change in mean and median annual daily flow ......................................... 40 Figure 16. White River Basin water quality monitoring and assessment sites from 2013-2017. 43 Figure 17. White River basin biomonitoring results for the most recent sampling events for all streams assessed for fish and macroinvertebrates (bugs) from 2013-2017 ................................ 45 Figure 18. Twenty-three Basin 9 E. coli monitoring sites and geometric mean results from the 2017 sampling season ................................................................................................................... 49 Figure 19. Graphical tree comparing mean E. coli colonies value to land-use ............................. 50 Figure 20. E. coli monitoring sites comparing mean MPN values collected during dry and wet weather. ........................................................................................................................................ 51 Figure 12. Mapped geomorphic condition of all streams with a Phase II SGA ............................ 55 Figure 22. Scorecard information for lakes and ponds in Basin 9 ................................................ 60 Figure 23. Didymo, no longer considered a non-native invasive, blooms on the stream bottom substrate. ...................................................................................................................................... 61 Figure 24. Hydrologically connected road segments and estimated upstream mileage ............. 65 Figure 25. Status of stormwater mapping activity in the White River basin. ............................... 66 Figure 26. Cumulative agricultural intensity in the White River basin. ........................................ 68 Figure 27. WRNRCD Agricultural work in Basin 9 from 2013-2017. ............................................. 69 Figure 28. Active dams in the White River basin. ......................................................................... 72 Figure 29. Historic dams in Basin 9 that have been removed, fully breached or were unable to be located during a field survey. ................................................................................................... 73 BASIN 9 – WHITE RIVER TACTICAL BASIN PLAN - DRAFT 5 Figure 30. Municipal protection goals for towns and status of local protections in the White River basin. .................................................................................................................................... 78 Figure 31. Status of the 68 priority actions identified in the 2013 White River Basin Plan. ........ 82 Figure B1. Annual minimum 7-day flow with trendline for the Ayers Brook USGS station ...... 122 Figure B2. Annual minimum 7-day flow with trendline for the White River USGS station ....... 122 Figure B3. Annual 75th percentile streamflow at the Ayers Brook USGS station ..................... 123 Figure B4. Annual 75th percentile streamflow at the White River USGS station ..................... 123