While the sun shines in Montpelier, snow could be dumping from the clouds 50 miles southwest in Cornwall, VT. Apart from major snowstorms—namely Nor’easters—the formation of lake-effect snow over Lake Champlain is one of the weather patterns that turns the Champlain Valley into a winter wonderland. Lake-effect snows requires a big lake. This weather phenomenon is also common on the Great Lakes and New York’s Finger Lakes. Whether the snow makes you jump for joy or want to escape to warmer realms, it’s a staple of the winter experience in the Champlain watershed. Read...
Road salt has ripple effects on aquatic ecology, human health, and infrastructure. Anti-icing—the practice of preparing your roads before a freeze rather than salting your roads after ice—helps keep your driveway safe while using significantly less salt. Anti-icing before a storm is similar to using a non-stick spray on a pan before cooking: just as the spray prevents food from bonding to the pan, anti-icing prevents snow and ice from bonding to the pavement so that it can be plowed away. This approach can help you cut salt application in half. The steps outlined below, adapted from New Hampshire’s Best Management Practices for anti-icing by Axiomatic and from The Conservation Foundation, will help you take this approach at home and cut back on salt. Read...
In stressful times, one may envy a turtle: built-in safety from predators with their shells and free from modern expectations of speed and efficiency. Spending summers lounging on logs and rocks warmed by the sun and winters in seemingly peaceful hibernation. However, the winter months present survival obstacles for all animals in Lake Champlain, and turtles don’t have it easy. While hibernation may seem appealing to those who don’t enjoy the long cold nights of the season, it poses challenges with some surprising solutions. Read...
On a sunny late-October day, a dual-sided rake head tied to a twenty-five-foot length of rope sailed through the air and broke the previously still water of a boat launch in Whitehall, New York with a splash. Ashley Leemans, a volunteer with the Lake Champlain Committee (LCC), reeled in the rope, and picked through the pounds of submersed plants that collected on the tines to identify what species are present. It’s a part of routine monitoring for volunteers in LCC’s Champlain Aquatic invasive Monitoring Program—CHAMP—where participants are trained to survey for invasive species, both those that have been detected in Lake Champlain and those that have been found in nearby waterbodies on the “watchlist”. While sifting through her first rake toss of the day, Ashley found something alarming. Read...
Given the recent election, national politics is on many people’s minds. Unfortunately, the protection of something as fundamental as water has become a political issue. The Clean Water Act (CWA) turned 52 in late October 2024. The Act shaped water policy in the United States and helped restore the quality of our country’s waters, but much has changed since its passage and recent court rulings have weakened its reach. Read...
Sobagwihla --soo-bah-gwee-hlah--where sea ducks gather, where it becomes ocean. That’s the Western Abenaki place name and the meaning of Kill Kare, one of the Lake Champlain Paddlers’ Trail sites. A bill that passed the Vermont Legislature in 2020 that LCC supported required that any new state park signs display both the English name and Abenaki name, if there is one. Preliminary work to identify site names was completed in October 2024 and we’ve added them to the Lake Champlain Paddlers’ Trail guidebook in recognition that the Trail exists on territory originally and currently inhabited by Abenaki and other native people. We hope to add more place names in the future. Read...
LCC welcomed Dr. Lindsey Carlson as our Water and Science Program Coordinator on 12/16/24. “Lindsey brings a wealth of experience in aquatic ecology, community engagement, and environmental science to the LCC team,” noted LCC Executive Director Lori Fisher. “We’re delighted to have her on board to oversee our cyanobacteria and aquatic invasive monitoring programs and expand the Lake Champlain Paddlers’ Trail.” Read...
They touch the tips of swimmers’ toes, wrap around fishhooks, anchors, and paddles, and form underwater meadows near shorelines—native aquatic plants are ubiquitous in Lake Champlain Basin waterbodies. The roles these aquatic superstars play in lake ecosystems are often undervalued. It is not uncommon to hear native aquatic plants described as “yucky weeds,” but they are so much more than that—each species tells their own unique evolutionary story, and each plays a role in the broader ecological and human systems of Lake Champlain. Underwater flora are frequently overlooked, yet they are as essential as trees in a forest.
Not only are these plants ecologically important—they’re beautiful! If you have a space like a gallery, library, classroom, or meetinghouse, you can add educational and artistic flair to your walls with our art prints of native aquatic plants. LCC has sets of fifteen prints showcasing the Lake Champlain flora that you can borrow for display, along with a suite of accompanying educational materials including factsheets, identification cards, informative articles, and more. Read...
