Land Acknowledgement
We want to respectfully acknowledge the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the Abenaki People, who have stewarded this land throughout the generations.
Disaster Assistance
We hope you are all safe during this challenging time. As the floodwaters begin to recede and landowners take stock of the damages from this month’s flooding, we want to make sure you are aware of available assistance programs.
The Vermont Association of Conservation Districts produced an excellent guide to available resources, which can be accessed here:
The University of Vermont Extension Service created these great guides to Garden Clean Up after the flood and tips on edible garden plants, both shared below:
The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets has a number of good resources available on their website: https://agriculture.vermont.gov/flood
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) administers an Emergency Watershed Protection Program, which can help fund projects to alleviate imminent threats to life and property from natural disasters. For more information, please see the flier below. If you would like assistance accessing NRCS Programming, please reach out to the district at [email protected] or 802-689-3024.
Hazardous Materials
Please see this guide from FEMA on handling and disposing of hazardous materials:
Emergency Loans
Another source of financial support for the recovery process for farmers is the Vermont Farm Fund Emergency Fund. This program provides no interest loans for Vermont farmers or food producers who suffered a devastating loss due to an unexpected natural disaster that puts their farm or farming career in danger. Applications are reviewed and responded to within 10 business days. Most loan funds are granted within 14 business days. For more information, please visit: https://www.vtfarmfund.org/emergency-loan
There will likely be additional support made available for agricultural producers impacted by these events in the coming days, so be sure to check this space again.
Vermont Main Street Flood Recover Program
The Vermont Main Street Flood Recovery Fund is raising money to provide grants to Vermont’s small business owners impacted by July 10th’s flooding. These Vermonters are vital to our communities and we will do all we can to support them through this crisis. The Fund will provide grants in the range of $2,500-$10,000 to cover costs such as equipment replacement, supplies and help with clean-up. This will help bridge need until further support is available.
Partnering with Capstone Community Action, our board will ensure your donations are tax-deductible and are being distributed responsibly.
Contributions can be made on behalf of Vermont Main Street Flood Recovery Fund to Capstone Community
https://www.vtrecovery2023.com/
Local Working Group Report and Fund Pool Proposal
The Windham County Local Working Group recently completed its work for FY23 and submitted it’s final report to the State Technical Committee. This report included a proposal for a local fund pool. If funded by the State Technical Committee, this proposal will provide a targeted source of funding for producers in Windham County to implement conservation practices that address local priorities, as identified by the local working group. This work built upon the input gathered from the resource concern surveys that many of you completed earlier this spring. Priority resource concerns were identified as:
- Terrestrial Habitat
2. Pest Pressure
3. Weather Resilience
4. Field Sediment, Nutrient and Pathogen Loss
5. Aquatic Habitat
The complete report and fund pool proposal can be accessed below. If you are a producer interested in applying for funding, please consider utilizing the district’s farm teams program to help you navigate this and other sources of funding. For more information, please visit: Farm Teams
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