Basin 11 Management Plan West River, Williams River, Saxtons River Vermont Agency of Natural Resources June 12008 Agency of Natural Resources Department of Environmental Conservation Water Quality Division Waterbury, VT 05671-0408 Cover photo: Turkey Mountain Brook at Burbee Pond Outlet, Windham 2 4 Basin 11 Towns West River Williams River Saxtons River Athens Andover Athens Brattleboro Cavendish* Grafton Brookline Chester Rockingham Dummerston Grafton Townshend Dover Londonderry Westminster Grafton Ludlow* Windham Jamaica Rockingham Landgrove Springfield Londonderry Weston Marlboro Windham Mount Holly* Mount Tabor Newfane Peru Putney* Stratton Sunderland* Townshend Wardsboro Westminster Weston Wilmington Windham Winhall * Towns with small areas in Basin 11 5 Table of Contents About This Plan ...............................................................................................................................................8 i. Whose Plan Is It.......................................................................................................................................8 ii. What Is In The Plan ................................................................................................................................8 iii. How To Use This Plan...........................................................................................................................8 Executive Summary.......................................................................................................................................12 Part I Action Plan.........................................................................................................................................16 1. Introduction...........................................................................................................................................16 2. Resolving State and Local Water Quality Issues and Concerns ...........................................................17 Part II Essential Information........................................................................................................................26 1. Introduction...........................................................................................................................................26 1.1 The Basin 11 Planning Process.......................................................................................................26 1.2 Local Planning Efforts ....................................................................................................................26 1.3 Public Participation in the Process..................................................................................................28 1.4 Planning at the Watershed Level ....................................................................................................29 1.5 Identifying Water Quality Problems...............................................................................................29 1.6 Partners in the Basin 11 planning process.......................................................................................29 1.7 Resources Reviewed and Consulted ...............................................................................................30 2. Description of Basin 11 ........................................................................................................................32 2.1 Three Watersheds in Basin 11 ........................................................................................................32 2.2 Land Use .........................................................................................................................................35 2.3 Water-Based Resources ..................................................................................................................50 3. General Water Quality Concerns ..........................................................................................................63 3.1 Thermal Modification .....................................................................................................................69 3.2 Sedimentation .................................................................................................................................69 3.3 Physical habitat alterations and adjustments...................................................................................70 3.4 Flow and Water-Level Regulation..................................................................................................71 3.6 Nutrient Loading.............................................................................................................................75 3.7 Atmospheric Transport and Deposition ..........................................................................................76 3.8 Exotic Invasive Species ..................................................................................................................77 3.10 Recent Projects Implemented in Basin 11 ....................................................................................85 4. Basin 11 Local Watershed Issues, Recommendations, and Strategies .................................................92 4.1 Water Quality..................................................................................................................................93 4.2 Land Use .......................................................................................................................................103 4.3 Public Access................................................................................................................................113 4.4 Roads and Road Maintenance.......................................................................................................119 4.5 Dams and Impoundments..............................................................................................................122 4.6 Water withdrawals ........................................................................................................................126 4.7 Watershed Education ....................................................................................................................133 5. Waterbodies Impaired on the 2006 Section 303(d) List of Waters.....................................................136 5.1 Impaired Lakes and Rivers of Basin 11........................................................................................136 5.2 Waters in Need of Further Assessment.........................................................................................138 5.3 Waters Altered by Regulated Flows .............................................................................................140 6. Establishing Management Goals.........................................................................................................141 6.1 Typing and Classification .............................................................................................................141 6.2 Warm Water and Cold Water Designations..................................................................................145 6.3 Existing and Designated Uses.......................................................................................................146 6.4 Outstanding Resource Waters (ORW)..........................................................................................147 7. Implementation of the Basin 11 Management Plan ............................................................................150 7.1 Evaluation of the Planning Process...............................................................................................150 7.2 Progress Reporting........................................................................................................................150 6 Reference and Resources .........................................................................................................................152 Glossary ...................................................................................................................................................160 List of Acronyms .....................................................................................................................................167 Appendicies..............................................................................................................................................169 List of Tables Table 1 – Basin 11 Priority Projects Table 2 - Windham County: Types of Farms – 2002 Table 2.1- -Basin 11: Best Management Projects 1999-2007 Table 2.2 - Land In Farms Table 2.3 - Population Growth in the Basin 11 between 1970 and 2000 Table 3 - Permitted Direct and Indirect Discharges Table 3.1 - Causes of Impacts to Rivers in Basin 11 Table 3.2 - Sources of Impacts to Rivers in Basin 11 Table 3.3 - Causes of Impacts to Lakes in Basin 11 Table 3.4 - Sources of Impacts to Lakes in Basin 11 Table 4 - State Macroinvertebrate Sampling Sites Table 4.1 - Water Withdrawals – in Millions of Gallons per Day, Freshwater in Windham County Table 4.2 - Windham County - Water Withdrawals (Mgal/Day) Table 5 - 2006 List of Priority Surface Waters, Part C. Table 5.1 - 2006 List of Priority Surface Waters, Part F. List of Figures Figure 1 - Seventeen State-designated Basins Figure 2 - Basin 11 Planning Unit Figure 2.1 - Farms and Land in Production in Windham County Figure 2.2 - Conserved Lands Figure 3 - Effects of a dam on a free-flowing river Figure 3.1 - State Bioassessment