Karina Dailey (Conservation Commission)

Karina Dailey Provides Protection for Jericho’s Environment and Beyond

(Conservation Commission)

Karina Dailey moved to Jericho in 2007. She was working on her master’s thesis at Antioch University New England and wanted to connect with her community, so she approached the Conservation Commission to see if she could help out. Chair Tom Baribault introduced her to the Town Forest and Dailey did an inventory of the natural resources there which she presented to the Commission. They invited her to become a member and the Select Board appointed her the following year.

Dailey is very proud of the work the Conservation Commission has done. In particular, she is pleased with the wildlife habitat overlay which is relevant to development throughout the town. She is also proud of the fact that the Conservation Commission helped spearhead a Conservation Reserve Fund which was used to help conserve Mobbs Farm and the Farm Upstream, a new agricultural venture on Lee River Road.

Dailey is a Restoration Ecologist at Vermont Natural Resources Council (VNRC). She describes her job as having two distinct parts. One involves groundwork managing dam removal. That includes managing projects all over the state, particularly those in the Lake Champlain basin, and dealing with engineers, contractors, excavators, designers, community members, landowners, neighbors, funders, and Vermont Emergency Management. In that capacity, Dailey writes grants, provides design comments, and organizes meetings.

The second part of Dailey’s job involves trying to improve state policy for water resource management. “VNRC is a convening organization,” she explained, “so we meet with other groups to share research and concerns and draft legislation as a team.” Dailey is particularly proud of this year’s Senate Bill 213 which included provisions banning building in floodplains and adding 15 new positions at the Agency of Natural Resources.

Dailey is a member of the Water Caucus, a group which meets weekly when the legislature is in session. She is a registered lobbyist but also provides outreach education related to the policies the group proposes. After the 2023 floods, the caucus organized community conversations on climate resilience in three of the hardest hit communities: Johnson, Ludlow, and Plainfield.

Dailey wears many hats including Chair of the Vermont Dam Task Force which prioritizes projects for dam removal and provides education and outreach. The task force is made up of scientists, regulators, and others who are interested in the issue. Dailey said Vermont has over 1,000 dams and at least 800 of them are derelict old mill dams which are no longer in use.

In 2021, Governor Scott appointed Dailey to be Vice Chair of the Vermont Citizens Advisory Committee on Lake Champlain’s Future. The Committee is tasked with creating an annual action plan for the future of Lake Champlain. They meet monthly, and twice a year they hold joint meetings with their counterparts in New York and Quebec.

Dailey loves the mountains which was a draw in moving to Jericho. Years ago, she taught skiing to adults at Jackson Hole and later to kids at Stowe. These days, you can find her on the lifts at Smugglers’ Notch or skinning up at other areas during off hours. Dailey also appreciates another facet of living in Jericho. “When we moved here, we knew we wanted to raise a family,” she said, “but we didn’t realize that the schools here were so good.”

Dailey said Vermont Emergency Management has an influx of funds which she is hoping to tap into. “I think there is a tremendous opportunity for flood mitigation and climate resilience work,” she said. “I think we need to be thinking about identifying those projects which might allow us to look closer at the Browns River and Mill Brook.”

Dailey would like people to look at rivers with a wider lens and see things on a watershed scale rather than just individual bodies of water. Most people will look at a river laterally and perhaps longitudinally, but she wants them to also think of them vertically regarding the ground water underneath and temporally which measures how they change over time.

Dailey would love to use her professional expertise here in Jericho to remove the dam at the Jericho Town Forest. The Conservation Commission has already written one grant to raise funds for a proposal which will be followed by another grant for implementation. “It’s a small dam,” Dailey said, “and it may not seem hugely significant, but the education and outreach component is important, and it might lead to other projects.”