John Little
This letter is a synopsis of what I've discovered about the Missisquoi River in the past few days. It is based on personal observations, and not backed up yet with photos and turbidity measurements. I do hope however that these observations will lead to a remedying of the situation that has been ongoing throughout this summer. The Missisquoi River remains brown (and sometimes chalky white) no matter what the whether does. Normally (the past thirty years in my experience) it becomes brown with the raise of waters after a rain,and then the river clears out as the water drops to it normal low summer levels.
On Saturday the 20th of August,I traveled down the Trout River to its confluence with the Missisquoi River, and then turned upstream and traveled all the way to Highwater, Mansonville and East Bolton Quebec, as wellas to North Troy,VT. I checked all the feeder streams, and major tributaries for signs of murkiness (turbidity) as I traveled I made observations as I went. They were all looking pretty good as it hadn't rained for a day or two.......... The exception being Missisquoi itself. Oh yeah, there were five heifers under the bridge at the old Davis Farm on the Berkshire Rd. staying cool in the shade and the brook, but above them, the brook didn't look too bad. The Missisquoi itself though, was almost chalky white between E.Richford and Richord as I stopped and talked to Craig Fuller about him bot finding much fishing for his kid. At any rate, I went home from my roadside survey empty handed that day. I was disappointed and determined to get in my canoe for a closer look.
On Monday the 22nd, I got an early start, and put my canoe in the Missisquoi du Nord at Highwater, PQ, and poled upstream to Mansonville. It wasn't long before I ran into something which I'am sure is the cause of much of the turbidity we have been experiencing in the lower Missiquoi river (that which is down stream from the Canadian border at E. Richford). It also explains why the river will occasionally turn a chalky gray/white. There is a large farm, which is growing corn and soybean that borders the Missiquoi do Nord not far above where it crosses under Rt.243. There were two large ditches leaking chalky white clay water into the river from this farm. As soon as I'd gotten above these, the water color was more normal, and I was able to see two or three feet into the river,allowing me to see the bottom where it wasn't too deep. In addition to this, there was a cut bank on the outside of one bend in the river. It was about 9 feet tall, six feet at the bottom was pottery quality clay, and there was about three feet of topsoil on top of that. There was no vegetation on it all, and the top had been gullied and rounded by water cascading down from above. When I finally made it to the top to see what was there, there was nothing to catch or filter the soil that would run out of the 50 odd acres of soybean directly uphill of this opening to the river. Essentially this farmer was losing a lot of soil every time the skies dropped a little rain. The clay is what is staying in the water so long, and making it all the way to Lake Champlain and Missiquoi Bay.
I hate to be pessimistic about this situation, but it is going to persist for a while, as it will take a long time to establish some filtering vegetation along this stretch of the river. The soil is bare and sloped between the spindly 4-inch high soy beans, and the growing season is drawing to a close soon, as is evidenced by my finally ripening tomatoes( well, only one so far! )
After viewing these spots, I continued up stream till portage trail below Mansonville. I turned around, and headed down stream, much easier, passed my truck and paddled down to Glen Sutton. Along the whole trip, nearly 14 miles, I checked on all the feeder streams. While Missiquoi River itself was varying shades of brown, or chalky gray/white, the feeders were putting all clear water in. Depending on how much flow they contributed, there was either a large clear hole in the murky water around each one. They were trying to dilute the main stem, but not contributing enough to make a real dent in it. I hope I can find some folks with enough pull to effect some changes in this situation.
At this point, I'm going to be back in school real soon, and not be able to dedicate a whole week day to showing this to folks who are interested, but I will do my best to help in whatever way I can. At the very least, pictures and turbidity measurements should be taken during rain event, and afterwards to see what the differences are.
