This lonely Lake Champlain angler was photographed from Alburgh, Vermont. He was trying to get in one last cast before the end of the 2015 LCI Fishing Derby. At this point there wasn’t another boat in sight.
For more info about the LCI Fishing Derby visit mychamplain.net
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy and the head of the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP) announced the availability of $1.1 million in Lake Champlain grants.
The $1.1 million in small Local Implementation Grants will be used to prevent pollution, support cultural heritage and encourage educational outreach relating to Lake Champlain and its watershed.
Leahy and Bill Howland, LCBP’s executive director, appeared June19th at the EchoCenter on Burlington’s waterfront. LCBP is a federal, state and local initiative to restore and protect Lake Champlain and its surrounding watershed for future generations.
“These grants support the dedicated people working to improve the Champlain Basin in their own communities. They build the capacity and resources of local organizations all across the valley, helping groups that don’t have the wherewithal to go after big, complicated and more-competitive grants. These federal dollars have been matched by thousands of volunteer hours given gladly by people working on projects that they love, right in their own communities, schools and watersheds.” ~ Senator Patrick Leahy, Vermont
LCPB will use the federal funds to distribute grants to up to 100 small watershed groups, schools, towns and others across the Champlain Basin. These grants are typically available in three categories: pollution prevention, cultural heritage and education-outreach.
Those interested in applying for a Local Implementation Grant, that the RFP is scheduled for release on the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP) website on June 26, and proposals will be due in late August or late September. For more information contact the LCBP at 802-372-3213.
June 20 brings a new attraction to the Burlington, Vermont waterfront. Lake Champlain Maritime Museum (LCMM) features a new interpretive exhibit, Maritime Burlington in a festive “big top tent” at Perkins Pier on Maple Street. The Maritime Burlington exhibit features highlights from the nautical archaeology fieldwork and historical research of LCMM. The exhibit encourages exploration and discovery and serves as a porthole to Burlington’s nautical history for visitors and area residents. It will also serve as a resource for LCMM’s new Lake Adventure Camps.
“We are very excited to be greeting the public right where so much history happened. The lake’s first steamboat, Vermont – and the second commercially successful steamboat in the world – was launched right here on the Burlington waterfront in 1808.” ~ LCMM Executive Director Mike Smiles
See the changing views of the Burlington waterfront over the years -the breakwater, lighthouses, steamboats, canal boats, railroads and the cargo shipped in and out of the Champlain Valley. Use a working replica of a nineteenth century crane to lift cargo into a small-scale canal boat. Weekends will feature demonstrations of such maritime skills as shaping spars, ropework and rigging.
Several boats from the LCMM fleet will also visit the waterfront at Perkins Pier:
Lake Champlain Maritime Museum’s exhibit Maritime Burlington, 2015 Lake Adventure Camps and the restoration of schooner Lois McClure are made possible thanks to the generous support of sponsors including Burlington Parks, Recreation, and Waterfront, Lake Champlain Transportation, Seventh Generation, Merchants Bank, Dan Landau, the McClure Family, and the Lake Champlain Basin Program. This project was funded in part by an agreement awarded by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission to the New England Water Pollution Control Commission (NEI WPCC) in partnership with the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP).
Lois McClure was built by LCMM shipwrights and volunteers on the Burlington waterfront in 2001-2004, based on two shipwrecks of 1862-class canal schooners discovered in Lake Champlain.
Launched in 2004, Lois McClure has completed eleven journeys. Over 5,200 miles on the region’s inland waterways have carried the schooner south to New York City, west to Buffalo and Lake Ontario, and north to Quebec City, engaging people in history and archaeology at every port.
More than 220,000 visitors in 220 communities have stepped on board. This replica vessel has been the most effective outreach program LCMM has ever conducted, and is a leader in the world of Maritime Museums.
The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum is located on the shore of Lake Champlain at 4472 Basin Harbor Road in Vergennes, Vermont, across from the Basin Harbor Club. LCMM brings underwater discoveries and lake adventures to the public in exciting and imaginative ways.
The Museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through October 11, 2015. LCMM Members and children 5 and under receive free admission. For more information call (802) 475-2022 or visit www.lcmm.org.
This photo of a cloud muted Lake Champlain Sunset was taken in Alburgh, VT on May 29, 2015 by Tom McHugh.
I especially enjoyed the interplay of the different colors in this sunset. What a great place to live.
The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is making $2 million available to help farmers install voluntary edge of field monitoring stations on agricultural lands in 47 Lake Champlain subwatersheds, and other lands in eight states. These monitoring stations enable NRCS to measure at the edge of farm fields rather than trying to estimate conservation effects by in-stream measurements that can be subject to influences outside of the farmer’s control. Edge-of-field monitoring, combined with instream monitoring provides a more thorough picture of improvements within a watershed.
The types of conservation practices typically evaluated include planting cover crops and using no till, irrigation water management, and practices to reduce and trap nutrients and sediment.The financial assistance, available through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), helps farmers install and maintain the monitoring systems for up to nine years.
NRCS first introduced edge of field monitoring as an opportunity through Farm Bill conservation programs in 2013 and has already funded eight projects in Vermont. The results of data collected will be maintained confidentially for farmers’ use and for use by the conservation partners responsible for monitoring.
Interested farmers should contact their local USDA service center for more information. The application deadline is July 24, 2015.