STATE OF THE LAKE AND ECOSYSTEM INDICATORS REPORT - 2008 ABOUT THE LAKE CHAMPLAIN BASIN PROGRAM The Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP) was created by the Lake Champlain Richelieu River Sutton Special Designation Act of 1990. Our mission is to coordinate the implementation QUÉBEC Philipsburg of the Lake Champlain management plan, Opportunities for Action. Program partners Richford include New York, Vermont, and Québec, the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and other federal agencies, the New England Interstate Water Pollution Chazy Control Commission, and local government leaders, businesses, and citizen groups. St. Albans The Lake Champlain Steering Committee leads the LCBP. Its members include many Plattsburgh of the program partners, and the chairpersons of technical, cultural heritage and recreation, education, and citizen advisory committees. The LCBP’s primary annual funding is received through a USEPA appropriation under the Federal Clean Water MountainsStowe Burlington Act. Visit www.lcbp.org to learn more. Adirondack Lake Mountains Champlain Lake Placid Montpelier Elizabethtown Green Port Henry Middlebury Ticonderoga Lake George Rutland Whitehall Champlain Canal COVER: The Missisquoi River delta in spring 2008. NEW YORK VERMONT CREDITS: BACKGROUND, LCBP. INSETS LEFT TO RIGHT: LCBP, LAKE CHAMPLAIN MARITIME MUSEUM, RUBENSTEIN ECOSYSTEM FIGURE 1 | THE LAKE CHAMPLAIN BASIN OR WATERSHED SCIENCE LAB, FRIENDS OF THE WINOOSKI, USFWS AND NYSDEC. INTRODUCTION What is the State of the Lake report? 2 The Lake Champlain management plan 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Collaboration around the Basin 3 PHOSPHORUS AND ALGAE Are phosphorus levels too high in the Lake? 4 What contributes phosphorus to the Lake and its tributaries? 7 What is being done to reduce phosphorus from all sources? 9 Don’t “P” on your lawn 9 Incentives to reduce pollution from agricultural sources 10 Climate change & the state of the Lake 11 Wetlands and rivers 11 HUMAN HEALTH AND TOXINS Is it safe to swim in Lake Champlain? 12 What causes pathogen and cyanobacteria problems? 14 What’s being done to reduce beach closures and alert the public? 15 Can I eat the fi sh from Lake Champlain? 18 2008 What are the sources of mercury? 19 ECOSYSTEM What is being done to reduce mercury pollution? 20 INDICATORS Are there other toxins of concern? 21 SCORECARD BIODIVERSITY & AQUATIC INVASIVE SPECIES PAGES 16-17 Lake Champlain biodiversity 21 What do we know about the Lake’s lower food web of plankton? 22 How are alewives and other invasive fi sh changing the food web? 23 What is being done to understand the changes to the food web? 23 What is known about the health of the Lake’s sport fi sh? 24 How are sea lamprey harming the Lake’s sport fi sh? 25 What is being done to support fi sheries and control sea lamprey? 26 Cormorants and water birds 26 How many aquatic invasive species live in the Lake? 27 Which aquatic invasive species threaten the Lake? 28 What are we doing to prevent and manage new invasions? 29 You can help the Lake! 29 Is water chestnut still a problem? 30 What is being done to manage it? 30 LOCAL CONNECTIONS Cultural heritage, recreation and the state of the Lake 31 Education programs and local involvement 32 2008 STATE OF THE LAKE & ECOSYSTEM INDICATORS 1 LCBP management through Congressional authorizations, major federal appro- Introduction priations and guidance. It also is an important update for Governor David Paterson of New York, Governor Jim WHAT IS THE STATE OF THE Douglas of Vermont, and Jean Charest, Premier of Québec, Canada, who have LAKE REPORT? made vital commitments to implement Opportunities for Action (OFA). The he Lake Champlain Basin State of the Lake and Ecosystem Indica- Program (LCBP) periodi- tors report provides an account of the cally produces a State of the Lake stewardship challenges and the efforts T of all partners to date for the Regional report about the water quality, fi sher- ies, wetlands, wildlife, recreation, and Administrators of the US Environmen- cultural resources of the Lake Champ- tal Protection Agency and the other lain Basin. The primary purpose of this federal partners that have endorsed the report is to inform residents about the implementation of OFA, and provided Lake’s health and provide them with a support for the program. THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS from the Northeast Arm of Lake Champlain. better understanding of both the prob- Through the seventeen year his- lems and solutions, as well as the serious tory of the LCBP, a large network of challenges that lie ahead. public leaders has worked together in a collaborative, nonpartisan tradition to organizations around the world. In this confront cross-boundary and regional framework, the central focus is the con- dition of the ecosystem or its “State.” To LCBP lake problems in this large watershed. Planning and implementation efforts understand why this condition exists, have involved nonprofi t organizations, we also track human activities that can scientists, business organizations, and exert “Pressures,” which can result in the public. complex, long-term and cumulative This 2008 State of the Lake report impacts on the ecosystem. These pres- has been expanded to include ecosystem sures result in changes in the “State” of indicators and a scorecard. An indica- the ecosystem and its natural resources. tor provides information about the Changes in the state of the environment condition of the ecosystem with a set of often elicit a management “Response,” measures that represent or “indicate” its such as new environmental policies overall state. Ecosystem indicators have or management actions. With proper been used in the Chesapeake Bay, the management, pressures can be reduced Great Lakes and many other watersheds. to bring about a more desirable state The indicators in this report were cho- of the Lake. The status of the “State” indicators also provides the basis for the CROWN POINT’S historic bridge across Lake This report also is prepared for our sen with the guidance of dozens of sci- Champlain links New York and Vermont. entists and state, provincial and federal scorecard on page sixteen. US Senators, Patrick Leahy and Bernie Since both citizens and managers Sanders (VT); Charles Schumer and technical experts. Please refer to the last page for the listing of the key partners. are concerned most with the “State of Hillary Clinton (NY) and US Repre- the Lake,” in this report, the State is sentatives, John McHugh, and Kirsten The LCBP has adopted the Pres- sure-State-Response or PSR indicators discussed fi rst, related Pressures are then Gillibrand (NY) and Peter Welch (VT) addressed, followed by relevant manage- who have supported Lake Champlain framework for its indicators (fi gure 2). This approach has been used by many ment Responses. 2 LAKE CHAMPLAIN BASIN PROGRAM COLLABORATION LCBP Phosphorus AROUND THE BASIN Human activities runoff PHOTOS: LCBP & USGS PHOTOS: exert PRESSURES ountless partners, from large on Lake Champlain federal agencies to volunteer The STATE of the Cand nonprofi t watershed groups, Lake Champlain are working hard to do their part to ecosystem is reduce phosphorus and other forms of impacted. pollution. Because the Lake crosses state and international borders, the LCBP was designated as the coordinating body THE LCBP works with many partners, including citizen groups Management to facilitate strategic planning across and agricultural agencies to implement the annual farm award. RESPONSES seek those boundaries. The comprehensive Algae bloom Stormwater to reduce negative management plan, Opportunities for quoi and local farm clubs to implement retention impact on the Lake Action (OFA), provides a common road its agreement with Vermont and the map for Vermont, New York and Qué- actions in the 2003-2009 Missisquoi Bay bec to clean up Lake Champlain and to Action Plan. FIGURE 2 | THE PRESSURE-STATE-RESPONSE MODEL, USING URBAN encourage a healthy regional economy. In addition, the LCBP collaborates RUNOFF AS AN EXAMPLE Each jurisdiction has developed its own through a Memorandum of Under- implementation approach to protect and standing with nine US federal agencies restore the Lake. committed to Lake Champlain’s cleanup Vermont established the Clean and through the implementation of OFA. Clear program in 2003 and subsequently THE LAKE CHAMPLAIN MANAGEMENT PLAN The US Environmental Protection developed the Center for Clean and Agency (USEPA), Natural Resource Opportunities for Action (2003) is a manage- Clear which features a strong partner- Conservation Service (NRCS), US ment plan endorsed by the governments ship between the Agency of Natural Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), of New York, Vermont and Québec and by Resources (VTANR) and the Agency of US Geological Survey (USGS), and Agriculture. The Center’s initiative is to the US Environmental Protection Agency National Oceanic and Atmospheric reduce phosphorus loads in the Vermont to implement a vision for a clean lake and Administration (NOAA) all work to sector of the Basin, as a means of imple- a strong economy. The plan, developed implement the phosphorus pollution menting the bi-state Lake Champlain actions in OFA. Similarly, Lake Cham- by the Lake Champlain Basin Program Phosphorus TMDL. In New York, the plain Sea Grant, US Fish and Wildlife (LCBP) partners after years of public Department of Environmental Con- Service (USFWS), National Park input, envisions a Lake Champlain that servation (NYSDEC) works with the Service and the US Forest Service bring supports multiple uses—including a healthy