Cleaner Water for Keeler Bay

Fall 2025 Newsletter

In 2020, concerns about conditions in Keeler Bay prompted South Hero Land Trust and Grand Isle County NRCD to initiate the Keeler Bay Watershed Action Plan, a planning tool to help our community address water quality issues in the bay.

We spent 4 years working with environmental consultants and a local team of farmers and residents to create the final plan, which includes a prioritized list of 20 projects with willing landowners. The two highest ranked projects were a stream restoration project in the Community Lane area, and a bioengineering project on Sunrise Drive.

photo credit: Molly Varner, Grand Isle County NRCD

At Community Lane, we will be restoring the small stream between Two Heroes and Worthen Library. Work will including reconnecting the stream with its floodplain and planting native trees and shrubs, all of which will help reduce erosion, provide shade, and strengthen habitat for wildlife. We’ve secured funding to design and construct the project, and we plan to break ground in early 2026.

At Sunrise Drive, we are working with three landowners whose beaches are experiencing erosion. Working with partners, we are designing a bioengineering project to stabilize the shoreline. So far we have secured funding for the final design, and aim to start construction in late 2026.

Beyond Keeler Bay, we are also working with Grand Isle NRCD and Friends of Northern Lake Champlain to form a county-wide coalition to address water quality. We have educational events planned, and we are jointly developing a new project with the Town of South Hero to explore a bioengineering project at the Town Beach.

Thank you to our donors, partners, landowners, and volunteers for helping us prioritize the health of Lake Champlain. We look forward to all the good work to come!

Want to learn more"? Check out the Keeler Bay Action Plan’s website !