January Rippled E-news from the Lake Champlain Committee

Lake Champlain Committee

January Ripples E-news

Tile Drain Advocacy

In December 2015, LCC and a number of other environmental groups sent a letter to the Vermont Agency of Agriculture and Department of Environmental Conservation urging them to take proactive actions to decrease environmental damage caused by agricultural tile drains. Read more…

NY Environmental Protection Fund
Gets a Boost

Governor Andrew Cuomo has proposed a substantial increase for New York’s Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) in his latest budget. Read more…

IJC Calls for Flood Forecasting

The International Joint Commission has approved a final report calling for improvements in flood forecasting on Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River. Read more…

Champlain Canal Barrier – Trapped in a Bureaucratic Web

Competing opinions from too many lawyers and an excess of backside covering from political appointees have prevented any forward movement to address the risk of invasive species entering Lake Champlain through the Champlain Canal. Money is available for the work. Read more…

Lessons from Flint, Michigan Water Crisis

High lead levels in the drinking water in Flint, Michigan have led to a federal state of emergency, mobilization of the National Guard, the resignation of the state’s highest environmental officer and public apologies from the governor. Read more…

Investments Needed to Protect Clean Water

The problems associated with aging wastewater infrastructure are daunting and many of our neglected systems need maintenance and repairs. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released their 2012 Clean Water Needs Survey that identifies the need for $271-billion nationwide for wastewater and stormwater upgrades. Read more…

Transmission Lines Along the Lake’s Floor

In 2015 the Vermont’s Public Service Board approved a $1.2 billion utility transmission project from Canada to Ludlow. TDI New England, the project proponent, plans to build a 1,000-megawatt direct transmission line that will feed the southern New England power grid. Read more…

Lake Look: Marimo in Lake Champlain

In late November a package arrived in the mail. It contained some round green balls that a friend had found on the shore of Lake Champlain in Panton, VT. , and she wondered what they might be. The balls vaguely resembled deer droppings but they were all green. Read more…

Nature Note – Mirages

Very cold air coming in over a relatively warm lake can create visions of floating islands in the sky. These are inferior mirages. Inferior not for their lack of grandiosity, but because you are viewing an image below where it is actually located. Read more…

New Faces at LCC

New LCC Office Manager

Alexa Hachigian joined the LCC staff in 2015, taking over for Jessica Rossi who left to pursue a private sector opportunity related to her botanical interests. Alexa is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island with a degree in Marine Affairs and she loves all things water-related. Read more…

Cliff Landesman Joins
LCC Board

Cliff Landesman spearheaded LCC’s 50th year Legacy Campaign and is now sharing his skills on a regular basis as an LCC Board member. A former resident of Burlington, Vermont, Cliff  returns regularly to the Queen City to enjoy the perpetual beauty of Lake Champlain. Read more…

Lisa Borre Expands LCC’s Advisory Council

Lisa Borre has devoted her career to the conservation and management of lakes and wetlands around the world. She is currently a Senior Research Specialist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies and provides research support for Dr. Kathleen C. Weathers, co-chair of the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON). Read more…

Upcoming Events

March 4, 2016 – Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn Concert

Virtuoso banjoists Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn are coming to the Lake Champlain watershed and LCC is thrilled to be chosen as the nonprofit partner for their donation initiative at their March 4 show! Read more…

Water News from Near and Far

Student Summer Research Opportunity on Lake Champlain!

The University of Vermont is offering a 10-week summer internship for research on Lake Champlain. The program is open to any full-time undergraduate student from any institution with an expected graduation date later than June 2016. Read more…

LCC on WCAX

The article on sex-switching bass in LCC’s last Enews generated attention from the local media. Staff Scientist Mike Winslow was interviewed on the live WCAX show, The :30. Read more…

Rescued Loon Released
on Champlain

The Biodiversity Research Institute’s Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation conducted five rescues of trapped loons in the first week of January alone, according to the Lake Placid News. Read more…

E(e)rie Waves

David Sanford is a professional photographer who makes a living by providing sports images, a job he has been doing for over 18 years. Photography is also his passion, and in his free time he heads toward water to capture images of the liquid. Read more…

Global Fish Harvest Higher Than Expected

Global estimates of how many fish are caught each year woefully underestimate the impacts of commercial fishing according to a paper recently published in Nature Communications. Read more…

Record Heat in 2015

Some records endure the test of time. The world record for the fastest mile has stood for 17 years. The largest smallmouth bass from Lake Champlain was caught in 1978. Read more…

Lake Champlain Committee Board of DirectorsGary Kjelleren – Chair (South Hero, VT), Sharon Murray – Treasurer (Bolton, VT), Alan Booth (Plattsburgh, NY), Cliff Landesman (Brooklyn, NY), Sandy Montgomery (Montreal, QC), Ann Ruzow Holland (Willsboro, NY), Hank Slauson (Shelburne, VT), Chuck Woessner (Grand Isle, VT).Lake Champlain Committee Advisory CouncilLisa Borre (Annapolis, MD), Megan Epler Wood (Burlington, VT), Steven Kellogg (Essex, NY), Peter S. Paine, Jr. (Willsboro, NY), Mary Watzin (NC).Lake Champlain Committee StaffLori Fisher, Executive Director
Alexa Hachigian, Office Manager
Mike Winslow, Staff ScientistLCC LinksJoin LCC as a new member
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