The Missisquoi River at the Missisquoi Wildlife Refuge. Photo by Natalie Bankmann.
Community members share their concerns about water quality through state grants that could clean up waterways
by Natalie Bankmann, Community News Service
SWANTON — Brenda Gagne, chief of Abenaki Nation at Missisquoi, a state-recognized tribe, can still remember when her relatives fished and harvested along the bank of Missisquoi Bay, sinking their bodies into the lake as the morning sun warmed their backs.
Now, she says, the lake is so dirty her grandchildren rarely feel the cool relief of an afternoon swim.
“I don’t think we as Vermonters are taking care of the most important thing,” said Gagne on a Friday afternoon in June at the Abenaki Tribal Office in Swanton. “Without Nebi, which is water to us, there is no life.”
Environmental experts across the state have raised concerns about the increased phosphorus levels in the lake, which lead to cyanobacteria blooms polluting the waterways. More than a third of the phosphorus pollution comes from agricultural runoff, according to a 2024 study by the Lake Champlain Basin Program. Northern Lake Champlain near the Missisquoi Bay has stagnant and shallow waters, which are especially sensitive to dangerous water quality levels.
“There have been a couple of times the blooms have lasted well into September, which is troubling to me as it creates toxins and takes oxygen out, killing mussels and fish in the Missisquoi bay area,” said Ken Sturm, manager of the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge.
But efforts to clean the waters and decrease pollution in the Franklin County area have begun to take root as the county conservation district works with the Abenaki Nation at Missisquoi group in listening sessions to find water quality solutions.
The tribe gained state recognition in 1976. However, its status has been contested in recent years as leaders from Odanak First Nation and Wôlinak First Nation, federally recognized tribes based in Québec, have contended the legitimacy of the four Vermont Abenaki tribes citing that they have no connection to Indigenous people or historic Abenaki People. After the federal government denied tribal recognition, finding that less than 1% of its members could demonstrate descent from an Abenaki ancestor, a 2022 Vermont Attorney General’s Office report shared similar findings.
The Vermont Chapter of the Natural Conservancy and the South Hero Land Trust have made the decision to pause conservation action with Vermont state recognized tribes.
But counties are still working with these groups. Mel Auffredou, a senior natural resources planner at Franklin County Natural Resources Conservation District began a project in May 2024 that will include at least 15 outreach programs over the course of three years connecting the conservation district with members from the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi state recognized tribe to record their concerns about the state of the waterways and brainstorm possible solutions.
With a $84,200 grant from New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission, an organization that helps restore and preserve water quality in the North East, Auffredou and her partner Orenna Brand, a field technician and community engagement coordinator at the conservation district, will create a plan with the conservation district to clean the waters using ideas they heard from the Abenaki Nation at Missisquoi group.
“Whatever we end up doing will be based on priorities identified by the tribe. So far, a lot of that has been litter cleanup. On our larger scale, we work on reducing phosphorus loading into the water that comes from agricultural runoff,” Brand said.
For years, Gagne said the group members have used the bay for fishing and collecting clay from its bank. But today, due to the water quality, the group has been forced to mainly catch and release.
“The kids aren’t getting the fundamentals of skinning and deboning and all the things that are part of traditions aren’t being taught like they should be,” Gagne said.
Gagne explained that group members have voiced concern about litter on the shores of the lake, especially cigarette butts. A simple solution, she said, would be no littering signs on the lakeshore. Auffredou has applied for a grant to put up these signs and make other efforts to clean up litter on the shore.
Auffredou said she built trust by slowly integrating herself into the group. She began attending the group’s powwows in November 2023 and began talking with Gagne in December. Brand began familiarizing herself with the group when she joined the conservation district in August 2024.
“There has been a lot of mistrust between people outside of the tribe and those in it, so I was really glad we were able to connect face to face and build trust,” Brand said.
The conservation district hosted two outreach events earlier this year, including at the Abenaki Heritage event at Swanton Recreation Park. Around 1,000 members from the Abenaki Nation at Missisquoi community attended the event and received $43 Visa gift cards as participatory stipends for members to voice their concerns, according to Brand.
“It’s not just zebra mussels,” Gagne said. “There is so much pollution, we are really hoping the water will be clean enough to fish and hunt eventually.”
Community News Service is a University of Vermont journalism internship
To support vital journalism, access our archives and get unique features like our award-winning profiles, Book of Lists & Business-to-Business Directory, subscribe HERE!
