The Basin covers approximately 395,520 acres. There are 49 lakes and ponds in the three watersheds, comprising 1,030 known acres. The rivers and their tributaries flow down from the mountains through the foothills and across the Vermont Piedmont to the Connecticut River Valley where they join the Connecticut River.

The West River joins the Connecticut River in Brattleboro, the Williams River joins the Connecticut River in Rockingham, and the Saxtons River joins the Connecticut River in Bellows Falls .

Windham County Vermont map - Printable Version 10/04/2008,14:40 199.55 Kb

This article was written for the WRC NEWSBRIEFS which is a monthly publication of the Windham Regional Commission.  The  WRC is a partner with the Windham District in all of our Fluvial Studies and Projects.

Fluvial Geomorphology is quite a mouthful, and we’ll be hearing and talking about it a lot. We’ve discussed this relatively new science before, and it’s worth reviewing because a lot is happening at the state level and across the country. Fluvial means related to a river or stream, from the Latin word for river “flumen.” And from the Greek words for earth (gi, or ge) and form (morfe) we get geomorphology meaning the study of land forms.

Information regarding scheduled fluvial stream geomorphic assessments and river corridor planning projects for 2008-2009 are provided as a guide.

Currently, $223,642.00 in grants are funding six different Restoration and Education Projects and seven different geomorphic assessments.

A Basin Plan will be developed for each river in the basin every five years. The Plan summarizes current past and past (within five years) assessment, planning and implementation activities at the state and local level in the basin. It identifies topics or areas of special importance in the basin, identifies available management tools to address those topics, and makes specific recommendations on how to address key topics, including recommendations for continuing community-based planning or implementation action.

The Basin 11 Management Plan can be found at:
http://www.vtwaterquality.org/planning/htm/pl_west.htm

The length of the mainstem is 20 miles and drains a watershed that is 78 square miles with a total drop of approximately 1,800 feet. The dominant land cover type in the Saxtons River, covering approximately 82% of the watershed is deciduous, coniferous, and mixed forests. The remaining land cover is comprised of: surface water (8%), transportation uses (4%), agricultural activities (3%), wetlands (<2%), and developed land not including transportation uses (1%).