A Missisquoi River Basin Blog

If you know anything about Pearl, dear reader, it is that she loves to go swimming. Dogs like to go swimming due to breed history, natural instincts, and physical comfort. Many dogs (like Pearl) find that splashing around is a fun way to play and cool down on a hot day. Pearl has never been known to turn down running into the water after a stick has been thrown into it. Summer in Vermont is a special time that needs to be properly taken advantage of. Activities such as swimmi

Over the past several years, the Missisquoi River Basin Association is proud to have constructed three rain gardens across the Missisquoi watershed. A Rain Garden is a small, bowl-shaped depression in the soil made up of native plants used as a drainage capture from runoff. Rain Gardens are typically planted on the downside slope of an impervious surface. This type of landscaping allows runoff from impervious surfaces, or extremely saturated landscapes, to collect and infilt

One thing Pearl has learned over the course of her time in conservation work is that some projects take time. In October of 2025, the Missisquoi River Basin Association successfully completed the removal of the man-made Sleeper Pond Dam in Newport Center after nearly ten years of work. This is a huge accomplishment for the MRBA and greater watershed community! In this blog post, Pearl is going to take you through the timeline of this project, why defunct dams should be remove