EAST CHARLESTON — The NorthWoods Stewardship Center’s Conservation Science Department says they have been looking at class 4 roads in the Northeast Kingdom that have had erosion troubles.
A class 4 road as defined by the State of Vermont is a road that is not a state highway, an important town highway, or traveled town highway.
These roads, class 1, 2, and 3 are required to be maintained by the town or state to be negotiable under normal conditions all seasons of the year by a standard manufactured car.
Class 4 roads are not maintained and are therefore of questionable condition. They are excellent candidates for exploring on a dual-sport motorcycle, high clearance 4×4, mountain bike, horse, or for hiking.
Northwoods says visits to class 4 roads showed that many of the problem areas had already been addressed by towns.
Some roads, however, were still not quite up to standards.
NorthWoods staff explored possible project ideas and funding sources that could be used to bring the roads up to standards and also prevent future erosion.
This effort is part of a continued partnership between the NorthWoods Stewardship Center and the Northeastern Vermont Development Association.
The funding source for this project is the 1977 federal Clean Water Act, which funds water quality management planning activities on a regional basis.
NorthWoods is a subcontractor of NVDA, which is a grantee of the Two Rivers Ottauquechee Regional Commission.
The expected outcome of this effort is a list of project outlines that can be put into practice to help reduce erosion and contaminated road runoff from impacting water quality.
