��Ducks Unlimited Projects in Vermont��March 19, 2026�VAWS Winter Conference��Mary Beth Poli, PWS�Program Manager – Mitigation (VT and NY)�Ducks Unlimited�

In Lieu Fee (ILF)

Ducks Unlimited

• DU is a nationwide nonprofit whose mission is to conserve and restore wetlands

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• Supported by passionate paid staff, volunteers, and donors

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• Other programs are grant funded, supported by donated match

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• Mitigation option for wetland permitting impacts (federal & state)

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• Collect impact fees from various projects from within a watershed

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• DU uses funds to find, plan, design, construct and manage sites, coordinating with Interagency Review Team (IRT)

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Three Mile Bridge, Middlebury, VT

136 Acres conserved on Middlebury River and Otter Creek

Now part of Cornwall Swamp WMA; constructed 2018

Three Mile Bridge

DU acquires site, develops mitigation plan, designs and permits, works with contractors to complete earthwork, tree/shrub planting, invasive control

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Adaptive management:

• mowing between tree rows to reduce invasive pressure
• planting additional trees/shrubs

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Plant native wetland vegetation, focusing on PSS & PFO with some PEM

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Monitoring of wetland establishment and vegetation composition each year, with report produced every 2 years

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Three Mile Bridge

Earthwork:

• Plug ditches
• shallow scrapes to reestablish oxbows
• Goal is to retain overland flow and flood waters

Focus on woody tree and shrub reestablishment to restore native floodplain forest

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Three Mile Bridge: Adaptive Management

Willoughby Lake Road ILF Site, Barton VT

243 acres conserved; constructed October 2025

Willoughby Lake Road ILF Site

Willoughby Lake Road ILF Site

Twin Oaks Property, Otter Creek, Brandon

169 acres conserved; project approved in 2025; construction planned summer 2026

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Twin Oaks Restoration Area (Otter Creek)

Battenkill ILF Site in Sunderland, VT�128 Acres conserved; developing design & restoration plan; construction 2026-2027�Partnership with Trout Unlimited

Hubbardton River Clayplain Reserve, West Haven, VT�Partnership with TNC; developing design & approvals

Purchasing Wetland Credits

• Call or email DU for credit pricing and availability early in planning/design to ensure accurate project budgets
• Delineate wetlands, avoid and minimize impacts, then determine necessary mitigation with State & Federal wetland regulators
• Once wetland permits are issued, request an invoice from DU
• Share location, type and amount of impacts
• Currently stream impacts are translated into wetland acres; DU is developing stream-specific credits on the ground for future use
• Once DU receives payment from permittee, we issue a credit sale letter confirming we accept responsibility for the mitigation that is signed from both parties
• Funds are placed in a watershed account and used to find, plan, design, implement and monitor wetland restoration sites

Lessons Learned

• Skip the tree tubes?
• In floodplain areas they fall over, get washed away
• Can fall over and damage tree
• Need to be removed - labor, plastic
• Save for special circumstances, ie. only for

deer-candy tree species

• Use smaller, perforated tubes more specific to

voles and easier to remove/dispose

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• Live stakes are promising with caveats
• Inexpensive, no protection needed
• Can harvest locally, install quickly
• Planting conditions need

to be wet

• Take several years to grow

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Lessons Learned

• Reed canary grass: how we got from 90% to 8% cover in 6 years:
• Chemically treat several years in a row, preferably by late June or within 2 weeks of mowing to allow for regrowth, focusing on specific infestation areas
• Plant native wetland trees and shrubs to eventually provide shade competition
• Following earthwork/disturbance:
• plant cover crops like winter wheat for quick cover, temporarily filling space left by RCG
• plant native wetland seed to provide cover until tree/shrub canopy fills and provide biodiversity and pollinator habitat
• mow variable strips between trees to reduce herbaceous competition and rodent hiding spaces

Wetland Restoration Partnerships: Join us!

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Annika Kuleba – Regional Biologist, Mitigation

akuleba@ducks.org

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Matt Wagner – Regional Biologist, Conservation

mwagner@ducks.org

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Mary Beth Poli – Program Manager, Mitigation

mpoli@ducks.org

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Ducks Unlimited Vermont

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