Rusty DeWees to host Landscape Auction
June 29, 2010
The White River Partnership today announced that the first-ever Landscape Auction to be held in the United States will feature celebrity auctioneer, Rusty DeWees.
The auction will take place on Saturday, August 14 from 1:00 to 4:00 PM at the Vermont Technical College in Randolph Center, VT just off exit 4 on I-89. The auction marks the first time in U.S. history that private funding will be utilized to conserve and protect the landscape via a live auction event.
“Businesses, organizations and even individuals can communicate their commitment to the environment and the community in a tangible way thru this auction,” said Daan Wensing of Triple E (the Dutch firm working with the WRP on the auction).
Over the past few months the WRP (a non-profit dedicated to making the White River watershed a healthier place to live, work and play) has been working with landowners in the towns of Bethel, Braintree, Rochester, Royalton and Tunbridge to select “landscape elements” that are in need of conservation. Examples include a covered bridge, songbird habitat, a river access area and various farm-related items.
Minimum bids at the live auction will range from $350 up to $18,000 (smaller ticket items also will be available before the live auction). The successful bidder will, in essence, “adopt” the element but does not become the legal owner. The money raised at the auction will be used to conserve, protect and/or improve the watershed (for example, improving wildlife habitat).
Various local businesses – including Hurricane Flats Farm in South Royalton, Wilderness Trails in Quechee, Oldies 104.3 FM in West Lebanon and Hanover Outdoors in Hanover – have already expressed their support for the WRP event. “We get a lot of requests for donations and financial support as a retail business,” said Tom Ciardelli, owner of Hanover Outdoors. “But not many of them are as intriguing or worthwhile as the Partnership’s new auction idea.”
The WRP is casting a wide net to gain support from businesses, organizations and individuals in order to help the participating landowners, who have proven their commitment to maintaining a healthy and viable environment for all of us to enjoy.
A complete list of items that will be up for auction on August 14 will be available in the coming weeks. For more information, please contact us.
News
Posted: July 14, 2010 by wrp_admin
Felt-soled waders banned in VT
Felt-soled waders banned in VT
July 14, 2010
On April 1, 2011, it will be illegal to use felt-soled waders or boots in Vermont’s rivers and streams.
Due to the spread of didymo and other aquatic invasive species, several states, including Vermont, have already enacted or are proposing legislation to ban felt-soled wading shoes.
H.488
Vermont Representative David Deen introduced a bill in the 2010 Vermont Legislature banning the manufacture and sale of felt soled waders, which was amended to ban the use of felt soles in the waters of Vermont. The bill passed the House and the Senate, and was enacted into law at the end of May.
The prohibition of felt-soled boots and waders reads, “It is unlawful to use external felt-soled boots or external felt-soled waders in the waters of Vermont, except that a state or federal employee or emergency personnel, including fire, law enforcement, and EMT personnel, may use external felt-soled boots or external felt-soled waders in the discharge of official duties.”
The Agency of Natural Resources will post information relating to the ban at all public access areas along rivers, and will include information about cleaning gear at locations where hunting and fishing licences are sold.
For the complete text of H.488, follow this link.
For more information about didymo, visit our Didymo Information page.
Posted: June 29, 2010 by wrp_admin
Rusty DeWees to host Landscape Auction
Rusty DeWees to host Landscape Auction
June 29, 2010
The White River Partnership today announced that the first-ever Landscape Auction to be held in the United States will feature celebrity auctioneer, Rusty DeWees.
The auction will take place on Saturday, August 14 from 1:00 to 4:00 PM at the Vermont Technical College in Randolph Center, VT just off exit 4 on I-89. The auction marks the first time in U.S. history that private funding will be utilized to conserve and protect the landscape via a live auction event.
“Businesses, organizations and even individuals can communicate their commitment to the environment and the community in a tangible way thru this auction,” said Daan Wensing of Triple E (the Dutch firm working with the WRP on the auction).
Over the past few months the WRP (a non-profit dedicated to making the White River watershed a healthier place to live, work and play) has been working with landowners in the towns of Bethel, Braintree, Rochester, Royalton and Tunbridge to select “landscape elements” that are in need of conservation. Examples include a covered bridge, songbird habitat, a river access area and various farm-related items.
Minimum bids at the live auction will range from $350 up to $18,000 (smaller ticket items also will be available before the live auction). The successful bidder will, in essence, “adopt” the element but does not become the legal owner. The money raised at the auction will be used to conserve, protect and/or improve the watershed (for example, improving wildlife habitat).
Various local businesses – including Hurricane Flats Farm in South Royalton, Wilderness Trails in Quechee, Oldies 104.3 FM in West Lebanon and Hanover Outdoors in Hanover – have already expressed their support for the WRP event. “We get a lot of requests for donations and financial support as a retail business,” said Tom Ciardelli, owner of Hanover Outdoors. “But not many of them are as intriguing or worthwhile as the Partnership’s new auction idea.”
The WRP is casting a wide net to gain support from businesses, organizations and individuals in order to help the participating landowners, who have proven their commitment to maintaining a healthy and viable environment for all of us to enjoy.
A complete list of items that will be up for auction on August 14 will be available in the coming weeks. For more information, please contact us.
Posted: June 9, 2010 by wrp_admin
June events
June events
June 09, 2010
The WRP invites YOU to these upcoming watershed events in June:
Landscape Auction Public Meeting at VLS
The WRP is hosting the first Landscape Auction in the United States on August 14, 2010 at Vermont Technical College in Randolph Center. A Landscape Auction is a live auction that allows individuals, groups, and businesses to “adopt” elements of a landscape in need of conservation. The WRP is using the Landscape Auction mechanism to help preserve the working landscape in the White River watershed. Please join Mary Russ, Executive Director of the White River Partnership, and the Vermont Law School Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic to learn more about this innovative financial tool for conservation on Monday, June 14 from 12-1pm in the Nina Thomas Room on the first floor of Debevoise Hall (#5 on the campus map). Free and open to the public.
Help Pull Garlic Mustard in Rochester
Join the Upper River Stream Team for a garlic mustard pull on Monday, June 14 at 6pm; meet in the Rochester School parking lot. According to the Nature Conservancy’s Wise on Weeds! website, garlic mustard is one of the top invading plant species in Vermont. The site in Rochester is one of the first known colonies in the Upper White River watershed; we’ll be hand-pulling the plants to stop a seed bank from forming. Gloves and bags will be provided. Check out this Wise on Weeds! fact sheet for more information on garlic mustard.
Teachers Forum at VINS
The White River Partnership (WRP) has received a Wellborn Ecology Fund grant from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation to initiate a school-based Monitoring the White River Program (Program) for 12 towns in Vermont’s White River watershed: Barnard, Bethel, Braintree, Brookfield, Chelsea, Hartford, Pomfret, Randolph, Royalton, Sharon, Tunbridge, and Washington. We will launch the Program on Monday, June 28th at a Teachers’ Forum from 10 am to 3 pm at the VINS Nature Center on Route 4 in Quechee (lunch provided). Teachers who are interested in using the river to teach standards are encouraged to participate in this event, during which we will initiate a peer learning network and gather teacher input to help shape the Program. For more information, or to register for the Teachers’ Forum, please contact Jennifer Guarino, Program Coordinator, at jguarino556@gmail.com or (802) 728-9135.
For more information about our events, please contact us!