Time to discuss water matters at Hinesburg Town Hall

 

Discuss Water Matters in Hinesburg

 

A conversation to help grow a culture of clean water will happen at 7pm at Hinesburg Town Hall on March 31.

Panelists and attendees will consider how well the health of Lake Champlain is being protected, as well as the streams and wetlands in growing Vermont towns. Panelists will identify what each town may consider doing to ensure that healthy stream corridors move clean water through the Hinesburg hills and village, and through Charlotte and Shelburne, to Shelburne Bay and Lake Champlain.

Lewis Creek Association will showcase its new surface water conditions map prepared by Milone and McBroom, which outlines conditions for LaPlatte watershed towns under current regulations.

The panel of guest speakers for the evening will include: Jessica Louisos, of the South Burlington Planning Commission and Milone and McBroom; Karen Purinton, Colchester Town Planning Office; Tony Stout, Lakeside Environmental; and Andres Torizzo, Watershed Consulting Associates. Marty Illick, of Lewis Creek Association and South Chittenden River Watch will moderate.

Preliminary findings suggest that state and federal regulations alone do not ensure clean water. Additionally, because current Vermont Water Quality Standards for streams are largely designed to protect stream biology, these do not necessarily guarantee the health of Lake Champlain. The audience will learn to what extent regulations ensure clean water, identify gaps, and discuss how towns may act to more fully protect Lake Champlain and the Champlain Valley water commons.

As lightly settled rural towns, Hinesburg and the surrounding communities still have the luxury of vast natural infiltration areas and forests to help avoid costly stormwater impairment, familiar to Vermont towns to the north. Village growth areas now hold natural wetland and stream features for recreation, quality of life, water filtration and infiltration and wildlife habitat.

As a follow-up to the evening, all are invited to a free showing of the film What’s Your Watermark? At 7pm at the Carpenter-Carse Library in Hinesburg on April 7.

Sponsors for both events include Lake Champlain Basin Program, Lewis Creek Association, New England Grassroots Environment Fund, Responsible Growth Hinesburg and South Chittenden River Watch.

For more information call Heidi Simkins at 482-5215.

 

Lake Champlain

This 128-page softcover book features stunning historical images from the archives of Lake Champlain Maritime Museum and other regional collections, and includes chapters on Patriotic Sites and Celebrations; Commerce in the Canal Era; The Age of Steam; Crossing Lake Champlain; Recreational Boating; Summer and Summer Folk; Hunting and Fishing; and Winter. ‘Lake Champlain’ tells the story of this historic, busy commercial corridor and recreational destination.

Buy Here

 

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Biking on the Adirondack Coast

Renowned for its great road biking, the Adirondack Coast offers bike routes, ranging in difficulty that cross through the Champlain Valley and the Adirondack Mountains. Small towns and postcard views offer plenty of opportunity for rest and recreation along the way. Board a ferry and spend the day exploring nearby Burlington, VT. Or journey 60 miles north to Montreal, QC and experience the city Bicycling magazine rated the number one cycling city in North America. Whatever your speed, we have what you’re looking for: * Taste of the Coast – 43.7 miles, moderate * Coffee to Coffee – 26.0 miles, moderate * Plattsburgh’s War of 1812 Bike Trail – 22.4 miles, easy * Adirondack Coast Agricultural Ride – 29.0 miles, easy * Adirondack Coast Wine Trail – 60.4 miles, moderate * Point au Roche Family Ride – 6.1 miles, easy * The Flatlander – 21.1 miles, easy * Acres of Apples- 24.4 miles, easy * The William H. Miner Story – 35.3 miles, easy * Monuments, Mills and Music – 35.6 miles, moderate * Over the Hills and Far Away – 45.2 miles, difficult * The Climber- 38.0 miles, difficult * State Bicycle Route 9 – varies in length and diffculty

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.youtube.com

See on Scoop.it – Lake Champlain Life

Toxin Testing in Fish

The Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP) has released a request for proposals to study accumulation of mercury and toxins from blue-green algae in fish.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.lakechamplaincommittee.org

The assessment of toxins from cyanobacteria is new for Lake Champlain. Each season questions arise about whether it is safe to consume fish following blue-green algae blooms. It is not known if toxins accumulate in the food chain, and if they do where in the fish they might appear. Guidance to anglers varies across the basin and the country with advice ranging from discarding fish remnants or skin to not eating fish in areas experiencing blooms. The study will hopefully provide clarity for future advisories.

See on Scoop.it – Lake Champlain Life

How one Vermont farm thwarts water pollution

Wayne Fiske has chosen farm practices that improve water quality in the Rock River — and the Missisquoi Bay

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.burlingtonfreepress.com

Historically, throughout the Rock River watershed, the loss of phosphorus (“P”) from topsoil through timbering and farming has contributed to a destructive surplus downstream, in Lake Champlain’s Missisquoi Bay. The cumulative, downhill shift of phosphorus due to agriculture has worked dramatic changes in the Missisquoi: over-fertilized aquatic plant growth; diminished oxygen levels for fish and other organisms; and larger colonies of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae blooms. Fiske recognized early on that he wanted his farm to be a part of the solution. He teamed up with other like-minded folk. He joined and led three regional advocacy groups: The Farmers Watershed Alliance, the Franklin Watershed Committee and the Friends of Northern Lake Champlain.

See on Scoop.it – Lake Champlain Life