The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department is asking for a limited number of volunteers to help in rounding up and placing identification bands on the legs of Canada Geese at its Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area off Route 17 in Addison on Wednesday, July 1. 

“We need to keep the number of volunteers at 40 in order to ensure the event is manageable and safe for the participants and the geese,” said Andrew Bouton, state waterfowl biologist.  “If you are interested in attending, you must call our Fish and Wildlife office in Essex at 878-1564 for more information and to register as a volunteer.”

Volunteers should wear appropriate clothes and boots and use adequate sun protection. Bring plenty of water and be prepared to walk a long distance to capture geese for a biological exam and banding.  All geese will be released back into the wild.

The Canada geese nesting in Vermont today are the result of work begun at Dead Creek Wildlife Management Area in the 1950s by the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. 

Bouton says the data gathered in the annual Dead Creek goose roundup helps in monitoring the status of Vermont’s resident population of Canada Geese.

Feds: Rare wetland plant has recovered – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is removing the northeastern bulrush from the Endangered Species List after an elevenfold increase in its population since 1991.

At the time of its Endangered Species Act listing in 1991, there were 13 populations across six states known to exist. Today, there are 148 populations in eight states

According to FWS, the vast majority of populations are in Pennsylvania (59.5%), Vermont (20.9%), and New Hampshire (9.5%).

In Vermont, there were just two known populations in the early 1990s, including one in a Connecticut River backwater. But researchers may have been looking for the plant in the wrong places.

Northeastern bulrush prefer high-elevation beaver flowages  — flooded areas in stream systems created by beaver dams.
“About two-thirds of our populations are in beaver flowages, and the other third are in vernal pools or perched swamps,” said Bob Popp, a retired botanist for the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife who worked on northeastern bulrush recovery. “The latter populations are always smaller — there is just less habitat area, and it tends to be more shaded.” 

$32 million in fed funds for ag, timber flood assistance – Governor Phil Scott and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets (VAAFM) recently announced an agreement has been signed, unlocking $31.7 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) for the Vermont Agriculture and Timber Disaster Assistance Block Grant. The award provides supplemental disaster assistance under the American Relief Act of 2025, which was passed by Congress in December 2024.

“The impacts of severe storms in the last couple of years are still being felt across Vermont,” said Scott. “These programs are important to helping Vermont adapt to these weather challenges and develop sustainable systems for the future, and I want to thank USDA for their partnership.”

Under the agreement, the State of Vermont will receive $31.7 million in funding to administer through VAAFM. The grant will cover a variety of categories for Vermont farmers and producers, including:

• Eligible infrastructure
• Timber
• Market losses
• Future economic losses
• Bare-ground practices necessary to mitigate land loss

This funding will provide essential aid to agricultural operators whose livelihoods have been jeopardized by severe weather and flooding events in 2023 and 2024.