Melosira: Educational Boat Trips Teach Public About Lake Champlain

University of Vermont (UVM) Extension, Lake Champlain Sea Grant and ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain will host three Summer on the Lake educational boat cruises in July and August.

UVM’s R.V. Melosira launching a remotely operated vehicle

The public is invited aboard the UVM research and education vessel, the R/V Melosira, to learn about Lake Champlain and its watershed’s geologic, cultural and historical aspects. Trips will focus on one of two themes, Stories of Lake Champlain (July 17, 9:30-11:30 a.m.) or Life Underwater (Aug. 17, 9:30-11:30 a.m. and Aug. 23, 5:30-7:30 p.m.).

Trips depart from the south side of the Rubenstein Lab/Echo Building at 3 College St. in Burlington. The cost is $25 per person. Participants must be at the boat 15 minutes prior to departure time. The minimum age to participate is eight-years-old. For more information and to register, visit www.uvm.edu/seagrant/events.

Both trips will begin with an interactive introduction to the geology of Lake Champlain and its watershed. From there, the two themes diverge.

Stories of Lake Champlain

Stories of Lake Champlain will provide a cultural and historical view of Vermont’s largest lake. Chief Don Stevens of the Nulhegan Abenaki tribe will share the history of native tribes in the area and their relationship with water. Later in the trip, participants will learn about the lake’s naval history following European settlement.

Rock Dunder

Stops and sights will include Red Rocks Park, Lone Rock Point, Rock Dunder (of historic significance to the Abenakis) and the Horse Ferry shipwreck. The trip will conclude with an optional hands-on sediment assessment session to look for signs of historical land uses and practices on the lake.

Participants on the Life Underwater

Participants on the Life Underwater trips will try their hand at being limnologists, scientists who study lakes. They will collect biological, chemical and physical measurements to assess the lake’s health and current conditions by towing for and identifying plankton, sampling sediment and monitoring water clarity, among other activities.

To request a disability-related accommodation to participate in any of these programs, please contact Kris Stepenuck at (802) 656-8504 or kris.stepenuck@uvm.edu no later than three weeks prior to the trip.

Ghosts and Legends of Lake ChamplainLake Champlain is located between New York’s majestic Adirondacks and Vermont’s famed Green Mountains. Yet despite the beauty of this region, it has been the site of dark and mysterious events; it is not surprising that some spirits linger in this otherwise tranquil place. Fort Ticonderoga saw some of early America’s bloodiest battles, and American, French and British ghosts still stand guard.
Champlain’s islands–Stave, Crab, Valcour and Garden–all host otherworldly inhabitants, and unidentified creatures and objects have made appearances on the water, in the sky and in the forests surrounding the lake.Buy Here

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