CASIN’ THE BASIN VOLUME VII SUMMER/FALL 1999 NUMBER I Keeping an Eye on the Lake By Andrea Donlon VT DEC Lake Champlain Basin Program CONTENTS: Keeping an Eye on the Lake 1 Basin Waves and Events 2 Public Meetings 3 CAC Awards to Local Groups 6 Underwater Survey 7 New Cultural Heritage & Recreation Awards 8 Trailing Lake Champlain’s Birds 9 ECO-PEERS 9 Pete Stangel, Aquatic Biologist with Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation samples Lake Sea Grant Update 9 Champlain’s waters. Reader Survey 10 or those who enjoy Lake Champlain by sail- Local Implementation Awards 11 ing on a breezy summer afternoon, taking a Champlain 2000 11 moonlight dip on a warm evening, or casting Check out the LCBP F out a fishing line, it is natural to be inter- On-line! ested in preserving and improving the Lake’s water www.lcbp.org quality. Good water quality is one of the major themes in the management plan for the Lake Champlain basin because it is essential to the lake’s PAID 05401 health and there is strong public interest. Citizens BULK RATE U.S. POSTAGE PERMIT NO. 179 BURLINGTON, VT groups, government programs and university person- nel collect water samples and monitor water quality data for Lake Champlain and its tributaries. Scien- tists are using the data to track our progress toward better water quality and a healthier ecosystem. Continued on page 4. Basin Program P.O. Box 204 54 West Shore Road Grand Isle Vermont 05458 CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED Trailing Lake Champlain’s Lake Champlain Basin Waves – page 2. Birds – page 9. Celebrate the Lake – page 7. 2 CASIN’ THE BASIN BASIN WAVES... Good news from around the Lake Champlain Basin! • The LCBP would like to thank to Janet ity in the LCPB • A new guide for dentists about reducing, Swentusky and the AuSable River Association Champlain Basin” recycling and properly disposing waste mercury for hosting a watershed association workshop on at Shelburne amalgam, which is commonly used in fillings is April 10th at AuSable Valley School. Thirty Farms in April. now available. The National Wildlife participants and eight watershed groups at- Educators learned Federation’s (NWF) and Vermont Dental tended. Guest speakers gave presentations about about phosphorus Society’s “The Environmentally Friendly Dental fish habitat, grant writing, nutrient sources, with Anita Office” promotes voluntary pollution prevention wetlands, record keeping, public access, volun- Deming, Cornell and proper handling techniques. For more teer recruitment, and stream bank protection. Cooperative information contact the NWF at (802) 229-0650. The next watershed group meeting will be held Extension; water later this year. April’s workshop was co-spon- quality with Amy • Vermont Citizens Advisory Committee chair, sored by the LCBP and Cornell Cooperative Picotte, Vermont Buzz Hoerr, represented Lake Champlain at the Extension. DEC and Lake ’99 Conference in Copenhagen, Nether- WVPD macroinvertebrates lands in May. During the conference, members • Two hundred with Mark of LakeNet convened for the first time. LakeNet students from Skelding, is a project of Monitor International which H.O. Wheeler Foodworks. Educators at Shelburne Farms. facilitates informational exchanges on watershed and Teachers also met management. Other participating lakes included Champlain with local farmers Lake Baikal, Laguna Lake, Lake Ohrid, Lake Elementary and Lindsey Peipsi/Chudskoe, Lake Titicaca, Lake Toba, and schools in Ketchel of the Vermont Department of Agri- Lake Victoria. For more information contact Burlington and The Youth Conference. culture. Shelburne Farms dairy manager, Sam Monitor International at (410) 268-5155. Orchard Dixon, and researcher, Don Meals, gave a tour Elementary in of the dairy barn and discussed best manage- South Burlington participated in the Winooski ment practices. For more information about Valley Park District’s (WVPD) State of the CBEI contact the LCBP at (800) 468-5227. Winooski Basin Youth Conference during May. Students represented stakeholders involved in • More and more students are exploring and reducing phosphorus, such as farmers, learning about the lake while on the water. homeowners, wastewater treatment plant opera- Students from Rutland High School spent Events tors, and loggers. WVPD received an LCBP several weeks in May canoeing from Otter Creek watershed education grant this year and will use to the Canadian border. Check their website at September 24, 7 PM. “The History and US EPA funds next year to involve students from rutlandhs.k12.vt.us/jpeterso/canoe/ Ecology of the Black Bear,” a talk by Winooski and Essex. For more information welcome.htm. Students from Addison County Richard Sage of the Adirondack Ecologi- contact the WVPD at (802) 863-5744. Schools recently launched an authentic long cal Center. Ticonderoga Historical LCPB boat they built at the Lake Champlain Mari- Society’s Hancock House, Ticonderoga, • The LCBP’s time Museum. The students rowed a portion of NY. Info: (518) 585-7868. education and the lake and stopped along the way to visit other outreach staff schools. Contact the Maritime Museum for more September 25, 10 AM to 3 PM. gave presenta- information at (802) 475-2022. Missisquoi Wildlife Refuge Open tions to over House. River boat tours, birding walks, 25 school and canoe trips, and exhibits. Refuge Head- • The LCPB community Gordon quarters, Swanton, VT. Info: (802) 868- groups in the Center 4781. Basin this Nicole Ballinger of the LCBP House in spring. Partici- explains the watershed model. Grand October 25-27. Workshop: “Measuring pants learned Isle, Progress in Your Watershed: Develop- about polluted runoff by using Enviroscape’s Vermont ing Indicators and Reporting Systems.” watershed model, saw a slideshow about Lake received Ramada Inn Conference Center, Champlain, or learned about wetlands by partici- approval Burlington, VT. Info: Sue Thomas, Green pating in a “wetlands metaphor” activity. The from the Mountain Institute for Environmental staff also reached 900 students through the Vermont Scafolding on the Gordon-Center House. Democracy (802) 229-6073. Ecosystem Exposition in Poultney, VT; Essex legisla- County Field Days in Keene and Penfield, NY ture for November 4-5. Conference: “Ways and the Winooski Valley Park District’s Con- renovations, which are now underway. The LCBP of the Woods: Culture, Heritage, servation Field Day in Burlington, VT. To anticipates moving back to the house during and the Evolving Economy of the schedule a visit, call the LCBP at (800) 468-5227. 2000. Northern Forest,” Eagle Mountain House, Jackson, New Hampshire. • Boaters will want to check out the Lake • Calling all birders! Green Mountain Audubon Contact the Northern Forest Center Champlain Committee’s new Bilingual Boating Society seeks volunteers to complete avian at (603) 229-0679 or email Guide in French and English. The guide pro- checklists while visiting 11 wildlife management [email protected]. motes environmentally sound practices, safety refuges in Northwestern Vermont. Sites include tips and information on preventing the spread of Snake Mountain and Little Otter Creek in November 5-7. Abenaki Studies Confer- invasive species. Call the LCC to receive a copy Addison County and Mud Creek in Alburg. This ence: “Reflections of Remembering (free + postage) at (802) 658-1414. project was funded through a Partnership Pro- and Forgetting: Revisiting the Original gram grant from the LCBP. For more information Vermonters.” University of Vermont. • Eighteen educators attended the Champlain and a list of sites call Mark LaBarr at (802) 434- Info: Cindy Longwell at (802) 656-3884. Basin Education Initiative (CBEI) workshop, 3068 or e-mail him at [email protected]. “Stewards of the Land: Farming for Water Qual- 3 CASIN’ THE BASIN Peru, New York (August 3rd) Public Meetings Discuss Progress ’99 Available Progress ’99 • More needs to be done to address the zebra mussel infestation. • The planning process should address the The LCBP recently hosted four public meetings to issue of urban sprawl in the Basin. receive comments on Progress ’99: An Opportu- • How can communities make sure that the nities for Action Implementation Report, general funding sources, such as the Bond Act, comments on Lake Champlain’s management continue? and the Draft Aquatic Nuisance Species (ANS) Management Plan. Meetings were held at four Thank you to Garry Douglas, New York CAC locations in the Basin during July and August. Vice-Chair, for hosting this meeting. The LCBP would like to thank the citizens and Basin organizations who attended. LCBP Introductory presentations were made by mem- bers of the Vermont and New York CACs. LCBP’s Progress ’99 reports on progress towards the Technical Coordinator, Barry Gruessner, pre- implementation of Opportunities for Action, the sented an overview of Progress ’99 and Michael management plan for Lake Champlain during Hauser of the Vermont DEC presented a sum- 1998. Many on-the-ground projects and coopera- mary of the Draft ANS Management Plan. Public tive management efforts worked to address the comments were recorded at the meeting and will Plan’s priority actions. Progress ’99 also lists be forwarded to the Lake Champlain Steering LCBP’s grants to local communities and organi- Committee and the Vermont, New York and zations. Seventy-four local projects received Quebec Citizen Advisory Committees for review $322,110 last year. Below are a few highlights of this fall. Comments are also being accepted by the report. mail. LCBP • Phosphorus pollution was reduced through wastewater treatment plant upgrades and Middlebury, Vermont (August 5th) helping farmers better manage runoff. • The Cumberland Bay PCB clean-up is • Eurasian watermilfoil is a serious problem in underway. the South Lake. Funding is needed for • The sea lamprey management program is harvesting and biological control research showing signs of success and a bi-state using weevils. nuisance species management plan is nearly • The emerging sandbar on Otter Creek is a complete. problem. • Wetland and streambank restoration pro- Kenny Miller, Quebec CAC Chair (left, • More legislators need to be aware of the grams continue.