Through a Clean Water Block grant provided by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation through the Natural Resources Conservation Council in 2021, the Lamoille County Conservation District (LCCD) completed a preliminary design for work that could potentially restore wetland and floodplain function on a section of an area commonly refereed to as 10 Bends in Hyde Park.

LCCD contracted Watershed Consulting Associates LCC and partnered with landowners from the Lamoille Valley Property Owners Association (LVPOA) and adjacent landowners to complete this project. The preliminary design addresses the northern most section of land north of the 10 Bends entrance by proposing the widening of the agricultural ditch (now a naturalized intermittent stream) from the Lamoille River to the Ten Bends Rd. The banks would be terraced and planted with native tree and shrub species. The stream section near 10 Bends Rd and Woodland Ln. would be elevated and capped allowing for waters to flow back to Lamoille or into adjacent wetland area to the south. This will also contain stormwater from the roads and developed areas of Hyde Park Village.

It is important to note that this project, as well as being a floodplain, stream and wetland restoration project, is also a stormwater project and is expected to mitigate a large amount of sediment and Phosphorus loading into the Lamoille Watershed and the overall Total Maximum Daily Loads of Phosphorus in the Lake Champlain Basin as spelled out in the State’s Clean Water Initiative and the new goals of the Clean Water Act 76.