Planting trees for a more resilient Vermont

I love spring in the Intervale. It’s muddy, slow in coming, and overall pretty wet – but there’s hope in the new rains, the budding trees and the thawing fields. Over $1 million worth of produce will come from this land over the next 8 months. 60 farmers will have seasonal, part-time or full-time jobs. Committed community gardeners will tackle their plots with vigor and produce food for their families. And, once again, new trees and shrubs will come to life in our Conservation Nursery, eventually destined for Vermont’s stream banks.

We talk a lot about riparian restoration – but what are the benefits?

• Healthy riparian buffers mean less erosion going into our water supply.
• The roots of these tiny trees hold soil in place as well as soak up nutrients like phosphorous before it reaches our streams, rivers and lakes.
• Trees provide important habitat for wildlife.
• Having healthy buffers is proven to reduce flooding from major rain events.

This year, our Conservation Nursery will propagate 47,000 native trees and shrubs. We will also harvest and plant 21,000 trees throughout the state of Vermont, from Tunbridge to St. Albans. And we are building a brand new facility to store, pack and sort our trees!

Trees, and their long lifespan of sequestering carbon, providing habitat, soaking up nutrients and stabilizing stream banks, are amazing. We love growing trees for conservation projects and are excited to start another season this spring!