Rivers, streams, and their buffer zones provide crucial habitat for fish, birds, and other wildlife. These corridors allow aquatic life access suitable habitat for feeding, spawning, and shelter. Habitat occurs both within streams and along the riparian zone, which refers to the land along rivers and streams.

 Streambanks, riverbanks, and floodplains are all examples of riparian zones. When intact, these important zones support a high density of plant and animal life. Development near rivers and streams can degrade riparian habitat, with negative impacts on the water quality and stability of the nearby waterway.

In-Stream Habitat

Habitat within rivers and streams is largely shaped by its structural characteristics—including the presence of aquatic life, rock, tree roots, and woody debris—which in turn shape the biological processes within the river. Woody snags, boulders, rock ledges, and overhanging vegetation are all structural features of a stream that provide optimal conditions for shelter, breeding, and feeding. The most diverse aquatic populations are found in streams and rivers with complex in-stream habitat features.

Rivers and streams in the Lake Champlain watershed are home to native or naturalized communities of spawning fish like landlocked Atlantic salmon and Eastern brook trout. Macroinvertebrates, a group that includes aquatic insects, worms, snails, and mussels, are the largest group of aquatic organisms that reside in (or directly depend on) rivers and streams. Vermont’s Winooski River, a major tributary to Lake Champlain, likely supports over a thousand unique aquatic macroinvertebrate species. A crucial link in the food chain, macroinvertebrates feed on algae and plant matter and are consumed by larger invertebrates and fish.

Riparian Buffer Zones

Riparian buffer zones are areas of vegetated land that run alongside rivers or streams. These zones are characterized by interaction between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and are critical for the preservation of biodiversity, stream stability, and water quality.

Riparian zones moderate water temperature, filter sediments and nutrients, contribute beneficial woody debris and organic material, reduce streambank erosion, and provide terrestrial habitat for many species. A diversity of native plant life, including trees and shrubs with long, bank-stabilizing roots, is important for the health and function of riparian buffer zones.

Stream Corridor Restoration

Contemporary land use practices including development, damming, and agriculture have resulted in significant loss of riparian buffer habitat throughout the Lake Champlain watershed. Active restoration efforts seek to revegetate priority tracts of land using native trees and shrubs.

StreamWise is a program coordinated by the Lake Champlain Basin Program in partnership with regional watershed organizations. StreamWise engages streamside property owners to enhance and protect vegetated stream buffers. These efforts, focused on private land, occur in tandem with watershed-wide stream and river restoration on public and state lands, agricultural lands, and in developed or urban areas.