Throughout the year, we will share a series of special feature articles in commemoration of the Lake Champlain Committee's 50-year anniversary. Here is the first one!

What do zip codes, the smiley face symbol, the Beatles, James Bond movies, push button phones, and the Lake Champlain Committee have in common? MORE Read...

One of LCC’s top legislative priorities in Montpelier this year has been the passage of a lakeshore protection bill. Currently, any shoreline zoning is left to local communities but only 20% of towns have taken advantage of such opportunities, leaving many of the states waters vulnerable to wanton development. Such a bill was drafted in the House Committee on Fish Wildlife and Water Resources. MORE Read...

On March 27 Cumberland Bay was officially removed from the list of New York’s toxic Superfund sites. De-listing represents the culmination of work undertaken over a decade ago, spearheaded by LCC. The original listing came about because of an accumulation of PCB-laden sludge in the bay. The sludge was directly deposited prior to the 1973 construction of the wastewater treatment facility in Plattsburgh. MORE Read...

How much effort should society spend in preparing for rare events? The answer surely depends on the scope of the event, its rarity, and damage or costs associated with preparations. So, with these criteria in mind let’s examine potential responses to the Lake Champlain flooding of 2011. MORE Read...

The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources has approved the Missisquoi Bay Basin water quality management plan. The Missisquoi watershed begins with mountain streams and gorges on the flanks of the Green Mountains and includes the pastoral meanderings of the Missisquoi River along the Canadian border. MORE Read...

On warm wet evenings from mid-March through April you can often find salamanders and woodland frogs creeping over the still cold ground. They travel from the woods where they hibernated to vernal pools and swamps where they will breed. In prime habitat multiple species of salamanders can be found: MORE Read...

Earlier this month, LCC Executive Director Lori Fisher teamed up on Capitol Hill with water advocates from across the country. In meetings with policy makers and legislative staff, she and water partners from Galveston Bay to Long Island Sound stressed the need for sustained national investment in our waterways. The gathering was part of the annual meeting the America's Great Waters Coalition. MORE Read...

We're at work on the 2013 edition of the Trail guide and other Trail promotional materials. If you have pictures and stories from your 2012 water outings that you haven't shared yet, we'd love to see and hear them. MORE Read...

Join LCC on April Stools Day! This is a springtime citizen effort to remove dog doo from our sidewalks and recreation paths. Pet poop contains bacteria and excess nutrients that are bad for our health and waterways. Dog doo left on hard surfaces washes into stormdrains any time the snow melts or it rains. From there it enters streams or the lake from which almost 200,000 people get their drinking water. MORE Read...

Give some TLC to your body and the lake on Wednesday April 3 at O'Briens AVEDA Institute. A $20 donation at the door gets you four spa services with all the money going to LCC programs to protect water quality, safeguard natural habitats, promote access, and foster stewardship. Read...

Area Aveda salons will be co-hosting a cut-a-thon on Earth Day at O'Brien's Aveda Institute in South Burlington. The event is part of a global round the clock cut-a-thon to raise money and awareness for water protection and set a Guinness World Record for the most money raised for charity by haircuts in a 24-hour period. MORE Read...

LCC is partnering with EPA’s WaterSense Program to promote water conservation. Save water, energy and money by finding and fixing leaks at your home and workplace as part of national Fix a Leak Week, March 18 – 24. MORE Read...

Following the record-setting lake flooding of spring 2011 the International Joint Commission (IJC) appointed a Workgroup to recommend studies of measures to mitigate flooding and the impacts of flooding in the Richelieu River and Lake Champlain Basin. MORE Read...

The State of Vermont is considering legislation that would increase protection of lake shorelines. The Lake Champlain Committee supports this effort and has identified it as one of our top priorities for action coming out of the Agency of Natural Resources Act 138 report delivered to the legislature in January. MORE Read...

2013 marks LCC's 50th anniversary of working for clean water. In celebration of this special anniversary, longtime LCC member Cliff Landesman has offered a challenge to help us build LCC's Legacy Fund, our working endowment. The endowment generates perpetual annual income to support our ongoing work for drinkable water, swimmable beaches, and edible fish. MORE Read...

Join Senator Bernie Sanders, Bill McKibben, LCC and Vermont and national leaders from 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM on Saturday March 16 at Montpelier High School for informative workshops about what climate change means for Vermont and what we can do about it. Learn about global warming impacts on Lake Champlain, agriculture, forestry, infrastructure, tourism and our economy. MORE Read...

LCC, the US Environmental Protection Agency and other WaterSense partners are promoting a week focused on water conservation. Wasting water wastes energy and money and can contribute to lake pollution. Get a jump on the week by reviewing your water bills and seeing how much water you consume, then visit LCC's Water Conservation page or EPA's WaterSense site for additional water saving tips. MORE Read...

Here's early notice that our annual gathering will be held Saturday, September 14, 2013 at Flat Rock Camp in Willsboro, New York. Further details will follow as we get closer to the date but please mark your calendars and plan to join us in celebrating this special anniversary with reflections on our past and a look to the future. MORE Read...

Lake Champlain Committee Staff Scientist Mike Winslow was recently appointed to chair the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) for the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP). The TAC is composed of professionals from academia, state and federal agencies, and other arenas, and is charged with identifying key technical information critical to lake management, advising the Basin Program about emerging issues, and developing and overseeing technical aspects of projects. MORE Read...

March marks a turning point in the annual cycle of the lake. As the sun creeps higher into the sky the lake begins to absorb more heat energy than it releases to the cold winter air. The exact time of switch in any given year depends on the frigidity of the winter and the number of cloudy days where sunlight is scattered and therefore less intense. MORE Read...

Something about a wooded lakeshore invites exploration. Poking along in a canoe beneath the low-hung boughs of a cedar or birch tree you never know what you might find. Aesthetic draw is only one of the many benefits that natural shorelines offer. Yet, undeveloped shorelines have become increasingly rare. MORE Read...

Why is ice so hard and slippery? What are pressure ridges and how do they form? Can we expect lake effect snow this month? Can fish get the flu? How do the lake’s turtles survive the winter? Find the answers to these and many more questions in Lake Champlain: A Natural History. MORE Read...

We are looking for several items in good condition to help our office and field programs hum along more smoothly. Please contact LCC Office Manger Jessica Rossi if you can provide any of the following. MORE Read...