Throughout the year, we will share a series of special feature articles in commemoration of the Lake Champlain Committee's 50-year anniversary. Here is the first one!

What do zip codes, the smiley face symbol, the Beatles, James Bond movies, push button phones, and the Lake Champlain Committee have in common? They all debuted in 1963. On May 17 of that year, a group of 93 concerned citizens met at the Middlebury Inn to organize in protest against a proposal to construct a shipping channel from the St. Lawrence River to the Hudson River utilizing Lake Champlain. This was the first official meeting of the Lake Champlain Committee. The stated purpose of the organization at the time was “to oppose the construction of the Champlain Waterway as being a project of little or no value to the economy of the states of New York or Vermont and especially of no value to the economy of the communities along Lake Champlain and an unjustifiable waste of taxpayers money and through this opposition to preserve the purity of the waters of Lake Champlain and to promote its greatest economical potential – recreation.”

The idea of a Seaway between Montreal and New York City had powerful support. An inland route would chop over 1,000 miles off the trip between the two ports. Developers dangled visions of thriving lakeside communities catering to the passing vessels. Less than a week after LCC’s organizational meeting the Vermont Senate agreed to spend $10,000 to finance a Champlain Waterway Commission. The Burlington Free Press reported, “This commission is clearly ‘loaded’ in favor of the waterway,” and that the Senate bill had pre-judged the waterway to be “of immense economic benefit to Vermont.”

Over the course of the next four years the Lake Champlain Committee would systematically tear apart assumptions of economic benefit and bring to light the tremendous ecological damage that could be expected from construction of a Seaway. LCC pointed out that the communities along the Hudson River had failed to benefit when that channel was deepened and the port city terminus of Albany had in fact lost population while comparable up-state cities without a port had grown. Read more on the founding of LCC.

On March 27 Cumberland Bay was officially removed from the list of New York’s toxic Superfund sites. De-listing represents the culmination of work undertaken over a decade ago, spearheaded by LCC. The original listing came about because of an accumulation of PCB-laden sludge in the bay. The sludge was directly deposited prior to the 1973 construction of the wastewater treatment facility in Plattsburgh. PCBs in the sludge had been used as an ink-carrier in copy paper produced by Vanity Fair Paper Company and later Georgia Pacific after the companies merged.

The PCB bed in Cumberland Bay was discovered following the first lake-wide toxic contaminant study, a project initiated following substantial advocacy by the Lake Champlain Committee (LCC). LCC then championed the clean-up strategy to remove the PCBs. The Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum allowed contaminant level for PCBs is 50 parts per million. By comparison, the Cumberland Bay sludge had PCB concentrations as high as 1,850 parts per million. Between April of 1999 and October of 2000, over 140,000 tons of contaminated paper sludge were dredged from a 57-acre area of the bay. Wastes had to be shipped to Buffalo for incineration while less hazardous material was landfilled in Quebec. Read more on Cumberland Bay.

The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources has approved the Missisquoi Bay Basin water quality management plan. The Missisquoi watershed begins with mountain streams and gorges on the flanks of the Green Mountains and includes the pastoral meanderings of the Missisquoi River along the Canadian border. Lake Carmi, and other lakes, rivers, and wetlands comprise the network of waterbodies in the Basin. The lowest section includes the Missisquoi River delta - a complex of marshes, floodplain and wetland forests covering thousands of acres.

The management plan provides an overview of the health of the basin and a description of priority ongoing and future steps to restore and protect water quality. Sedimentation, turbidity, habitat alterations, nutrient loading, river corridor encroachment and metals from the Eden Mine were some of the stressors identified as negatively impacting water quality. The plan includes an implementation table, which identifies specific actions to address these and other problems. Examples include reducing bacteria in specific area brooks; evaluating the feasibility of removing the Swanton Dam to improve fish habitat; augmenting stormwater system mapping and addressing 13 suspected illicit discharges identified in the towns of Enosburg Falls, North Troy, Richford and Swanton; and reducing phosphorus from the most critical sources. Read more on the Missisquoi Bay Plan.

Earlier this month, LCC Executive Director Lori Fisher teamed up on Capitol Hill with water advocates from across the country. In meetings with policy makers and legislative staff, she and water partners from Galveston Bay to Long Island Sound stressed the need for sustained national investment in our waterways. The gathering was part of the annual meeting the America's Great Waters Coalition. The Coalition was formed in 2009 and is an alliance of national, regional and state organizations working to protect and restore the waterways that are the lifeblood of our country and our economy. During the DC trip Lori also met with the offices of Senator Leahy, Senator Sanders, Congressman Welch and others to discuss a host of lake issues including funding, flood resiliency, infrastructure needs, and the Champlain Canal.

LCC is doggedly searching for citizen involvement in an “April Stools Day” clean-up event in the Champlain watershed. On Monday, April 1 or any convenient time head outside with your gloves and plastic bags to clean up pet doo from parks, sidewalks, and recreation paths. While most pet owners conscientiously pick up after their dogs, pets with irresponsible owners leave reminders all around for the rest of us to deal with.

“Pet poop contains bacteria and excess nutrients that are bad for our health and waterways,” said Lori Fisher, LCC Executive Director. “Dog doo left on hard surfaces washes into stormdrains any time the snow melts or it rains. From there it enters streams or Lake Champlain from which almost 200,000 people get their drinking water.” The majority of water that goes through stormdrains doesn’t get treated.

LCC advises participants to wear old clothes and gloves and bring a plastic bag and trowel for picking up pet deposits. Pet poop remains should be flushed down the toilet or deposited in the garbage along with any other trash you find during your outings. Read more scoop on poop.

Area Aveda salons will be co-hosting a cut-a-thon on Earth Day at O'Brien's Aveda Institute in South Burlington. The event is part of a global round the clock cut-a-thon to raise money and awareness for water protection and set a Guinness World Record for the most money raised for charity by haircuts in a 24-hour period.

Aveda stylists in salons  worldwide - from Tokyo, to Sydney, Moscow, London, New York, and South Burlington -- will volunteer their time to offer haircuts in return for a donation to Earth Month water protection efforts. Continue to check LCC's Calendar of Events and Facebook page closer to the date for further details.