Lake Ripples - March 2010

Don some green this coming Sunday and join in the rally to save Point Au Roche State Park. Ride your bike, walk, put your kayaks on top of your car, take your birding binoculars and bring a sign in support of the Park. The Plattsburgh site is among the 41 parks and historic sites slated for closure by the New York State Office of Parks and Recreation (NYOPR). The closures are part of NYOPR’s $29 million budget cut and are set to start April 1. The Park is a tremendous community resource that includes a public beach, 60 moorings, picnic facilities, and twelve miles of hiking trails that wind through a variety of interesting habitats including woods, rocky bluffs, wetlands, and shoreline. Point Au Roche State Park is also part of the Lake Champlain Paddlers’ Trail and provides primitive camping exclusive to paddlers in a small secluded and protected bay.   

Rally participants will gather near Assemblywoman Janet Duprey’s office at 202 US Oval to deliver petitions and resolutions and present a show of force in support of the Park. For more information, contact Mary Simmers, President of the Friends of Point Au Roche State Park at simmersml@[remove this text]aol.com. The Oval is off Route 9 on the south side of Plattsburgh. Take the east outlet at the traffic circle on Route 9 (two planes from the old Air Force Base will be visible) and it will take you into the south end of the Oval.  

Lake Champlain Committee staff scientist Mike Winslow will be the featured speaker at the annual meeting of the Missisquoi River Basin Association on Thursday March 25th at 7PM at the Richford Town Hall. Learn about the forces that shape Lake Champlain, the creatures that call it home, and the special role of rivers like Missisquoi in defining Lake Champlain’s ecology. Copies of Lake Champlain: A Natural History will be available for purchase and author Mike Winslow on hand to pen special inscriptions. Free event.

On March 26th -27th Canoe Imports, of South Burlington, one of the early business supporters of the Lake Champlain Paddlers’ Trail will host a two day celebration of paddling in Vermont. The program includes a showing of whitewater, canoe and sea kayak movies, a river festival, and a white water race. In addition, members of the Lake Champlain Committee and other selected non-profits will receive a discount on items purchased at the Canoe Imports store on Friday from 10 AM – 6 PM. On Saturday, if you become a member of LCC, you will receive a 10% discount on boats and 20% discount on accessories from 10 AM – 2 PM. Come stop by our booth on Saturday and say hi! To find out more information, visit the Canoe Imports website. 

Scientists at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies are attempting to identify and protect vernal pools in the state. Vernal pools provide critical breeding habitat for many species of frogs and salamanders. They fill with water as the snows melt but dry up in the heat of summer. The project is in its second year. Workshops will be held throughout Vermont to train volunteers to recognize and document vernal pools. Then the volunteers will be asked to field-check previously identified pools, collect biological and physical data, and report locations of unmapped vernal pools.  

This year, the effort focuses on the Champlain Valley, central Vermont and the Upper Valley. Space in the workshops is limited, so interested people are asked to pre-register. Workshops will be held:

• April 20, 5-8 PM, Green Mountain Audubon Center, Huntington, e-mail, michael@[remove this text]arrowwoodvt.com
• April 26, 5-8 PM, Ripton Elementary School, Ripton, email sfaccio@[remove this text]vtecostudies.org
• April 27, 5-8 PM, Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, Woodstock, email sfaccio@[remove this text]vtecostudies.org
• April 29, 5-8 PM, North Branch Nature Center, Montpelier, e-mail michael@[remove this text]arrowwoodvt.com  

For more information visit http://www.vtecostudies.org/VPMP/

Watershed for Every Classroom" is a year-long professional development experience for educators in the Lake Champlain Basin (Vermont, New York and Quebec), brought to you by the Champlain Basin Education Initiative of which LCC is a member. It offers teachers inspiration, knowledge and skills to frame exciting place-based curriculum and teach lake science and stewardship. At the heart of this approach is the belief that students who are immersed in interdisciplinary study of their home community are more likely to engage in stewardship. Educator workshops will be held in July and October 2010 and February and May 2011. 

The course fee is $400, payable during the course. Participating teachers will receive $100 for classroom resources and an opportunity to apply for a $200 mini-grant. Five optional graduate credits are available for an additional $1,000 from St. Michael's College. Check out the brochure flier for further details.

As ice and snow melt they reveal a winter’s worth of detritus along our roadsides and walkways: dog droppings, sodden papers, and blown rubbish. Instead of just side stepping the mess, take a moment to clean-up some of the wayward waste before it gets washed away into our rivers and lakes with upcoming April showers. Bring a bag and some gloves along on your spring walks.

On wet nights between March and mid-April, keep an eye out for salamanders and other amphibians moving from their winter resting places in the woods to vernal pools where they will breed and lay eggs. Common migrating species include red-backed salamanders, yellow-spotted salamanders, eastern newts, spring peepers, and wood frogs. Sometimes rarer species can also be seen like blue-spotted salamanders, Jefferson’s salamanders, or four-toed salamanders. To find the critters, pick out a good spot before hand, a low-traffic road with woods uphill on one side and wetlands below. Then head out on a wet evening with a flashlight, piece of cardboard, and camera to track the migration. Help the amphibians across the road in whatever direction they are heading by prodding them onto a piece of paper or cardboard and carrying them across. Keep track of what you find and send the information on to LCC Staff Scientist Mike Winslow at mikew@[remove this text]lakechamplaincommittee.org.