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Presentation will be livestreamed and recorded (link coming soon)

As European settlement spread across Vermont, rivers were dredged and straightened in an attempt to contain floodwaters and keep the channel out of the way of roads, fields and buildings. We now know that these practices have led to major channel instability and erosion that continues to exacerbate flood damages today. We’ll discuss the history of river management in Vermont, how rivers have responded, when dredging is and isn’t appropriate, and what solutions exist to achieve the results we’re looking for.

About the Presenter: Shayne Jaquith is a river scientist and has been the Watershed Restoration Program Manager for the Vermont Chapter of the Nature Conservancy since 2016. His work involves the restoration and protection of Vermont’s rivers and wetlands, flood resiliency and water quality. Prior to working with TNC, he was a river scientist for the VT DEC Rivers Program for 16 years where he helped assess the physical condition of Vermont’s rivers, worked to develop river restoration projects and provided technical assistance to river managers including transportation infrastructure managers, farmers and other landowners.

About our Naturalist Journeys 2026 Winter Presentation Series: This season is about understanding how our watersheds function, how our rivers flow, and which actions move us towards—or away from—becoming a more resilient riverside community. The series runs December through March.

Naturalist Journeys is made possible by our sponsors:

Hunger Mountain Coop
Onion River Outdoors
Washington Electric Co-op
Catamount Solar
Waite-Heindel Environmental

This project has been funded wholly or in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under assistance agreement (LC 00A01526-0) to NEIWPCC in partnership with the Lake Champlain Basin Program.