Despite blue-green algae blooms, Vermont’s largest lakes in 2014 were OK for recreation
Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.burlingtonfreepress.com
Let’s continue efforts and improve beyond ‘generally safe’
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Senator Leahy and LCBP Announce $1.1 Million in Lake Champlain Grants
$1.1 Million in Lake Champlain Grants
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.
Other Lake Champlain News:
- Vermont Fish & Wildlife Upgrading Fishing Access Areas
- Two fish certified as new Vermont state records
- Fishing Access Areas Are Not Safe for Swimming
- Reel Fun Fishing Program Expands at Vermont State Parks
- Melosira: Educational Boat Trips Teach Public About Lake Champlain
Maritime Burlington: New Waterfront Exhibit Highlights Burlington’s Nautical History
Maritime Burlington Comes to the Burlington Waterfront
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.
Lake Champlain Maritime Museum Collection.
“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.
Courtesy UVM Bailey/Howe Special Collections.
Several boats from the LCMM fleet will also visit the waterfront at Perkins Pier:
- MV Baldwin will host the Saturday Shipwreck tours in July and August;
- Champlain Longboats, the student-built rowing boats used for community rowing, regional racing events, and On Water Ecology tours.
- Schooner Lois McClure although the schooner is not available for boarding in 2015 while preparing for restoration work this fall
- C. L. Churchill (the Lois McClure’s companion wooden tugboat)
Maritime Burlington Schedule
- June 20 through August 23: Open Daily
- August 24 through October 12: Open Wednesday through Sunday
- Lake Adventure Camps: June 22 through August 14
Acknowledgements
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).
About the Lois McClure
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
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.
Other Lake Champlain News:
- Vermont Fish & Wildlife Upgrading Fishing Access Areas
- Two fish certified as new Vermont state records
- Fishing Access Areas Are Not Safe for Swimming
- Reel Fun Fishing Program Expands at Vermont State Parks
- Melosira: Educational Boat Trips Teach Public About Lake Champlain
USDA Providing $2 Million to Help Farmers Install Edge of Field Monitoring Stations
NRCS Encouraging Installation of Voluntary Edge of Field Monitoring Stations
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.
Other Lake Champlain News:
- Vermont Fish & Wildlife Upgrading Fishing Access Areas
- Two fish certified as new Vermont state records
- Fishing Access Areas Are Not Safe for Swimming
- Reel Fun Fishing Program Expands at Vermont State Parks
- Melosira: Educational Boat Trips Teach Public About Lake Champlain
Reminder: Lake sturgeon are protected under state laws
Anglers reminded that lake sturgeon are protected under state laws
Lake sturgeon are protected by legislation in both New York State and Vermont and anglers’ help is needed to protect the endangered species by practicing responsible angling and by reporting catch information.
“Lake sturgeon, which are listed as an endangered species by the State of Vermont, are fully protected and all sturgeon caught by anglers need to be released immediately. Harvesting a lake sturgeon would result in the loss of an angler’s fish and wildlife licenses in Vermont and most other states for up to three years. It would also come with a $2,000 fee, paid as restitution to the state’s fish and wildlife fund, as well as a $722 fine for the offense itself.” ~ Chet MacKenzie, fisheries biologist, Vermont Fish & Wildlife.
Lake Sturgeon Facts
Also known as rock sturgeon, reddy sturgeon, or common sturgeon, the lake sturgeon is the region’s largest completely freshwater fish. A mature adult can measure between three and five feet in length and weigh up to 80 pounds, but can occasionally grow as large as 7+ feet and weigh 300 or more pounds. The largest on record in North America weighed over 300 pounds, and the oldest was 154 years old.
The body coloration changes with age. An adult lake sturgeon is a uniform dull grey color while younger sturgeon are brownish grey with clear green on the lower parts of the head and body. They have sharp, cone-shaped mouths with four smooth barbels on the underside. The mouth is wide and there are two smooth lobes on the lower lip.
Lake Sturgeon Habitat
Lake sturgeon, which in Vermont are only found in Lake Champlain and the lower sections of the Winooski, Lamoille and Missisquoi rivers and Otter Creek, are a unique, ancient form of fish that were first given complete protection by Vermont law in 1967. Lake Champlain has the only lake sturgeon population in New England. New York lake sturgeon have been collected in the St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, the Niagara River, Cayuga Lake, the Seneca and Cayuga canals, and in the Grasse, Oswego, and Oswegatchie rivers, as well as Lake Champlain.
Historically the fish were more common in Lake Champlain, but declined because of over-fishing and loss of spawning habitat caused by dam construction.
Lake Sturgeon Restoration
Anglers are also encouraged to help with the Lake Champlain sturgeon restoration effort by minimizing injuries to any accidentally caught sturgeon.
“If by chance an angler catches a sturgeon, we ask that they leave the sturgeon in the water as much as possible and remove the hook if the fish is hooked in the mouth, but cut the line and leave the hook in place if the hook is swallowed. If possible, sturgeon should not be removed from the water. Anglers can also help by choosing to change fishing locations or using a different bait in the event that they catch multiple sturgeon in a particular area,” said MacKenzie.
Vermont Fish & Wildlife urges anglers to help population recovery efforts by reporting any sturgeon they catch to the Department at 802-878-1564, or by contacting their local fish and game warden or district office. Information obtained about sturgeon catches can be valuable to the Department’s sampling efforts and to monitoring the trend in sturgeon abundance over time.
Anglers and members of the public are also asked to report illegal sturgeon harvest to law enforcement immediately by calling their local warden, a state police dispatch center or Operation Game Thief at 1-800-752-5378.
To learn more about Vermont’s fisheries programs, fishing regulations or to purchase a fishing license, visit www.vtfishandwildlife.com
More About Lake Sturgeon:
A Dinosaur Among Us- The Lake Sturgeon