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. Clean Lake Tip – Spring Cleaning
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. Natural History Note – Salamander Crossings
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@lakechamplaincommittee.org. Lake Look ~ The Lake Can Bite Ya
There is an old saying: to be wise means to have good judgment; good judgment comes from experience; and experience comes from having bad judgment. Rapid changes in conditions that can occur on a large lake like Champlain enhance the many opportunities for bad judgment to generate stories and adventures. “If you don’t watch out, the lake can turn and bite you”, relates Irving Mehady, an avid outdoorsman I met recently. He tells a tale of duck hunting at Rock Dunder near Shelburne Bay. He and a companion had taken out their flat-bottomed skiff and hunkered down on the east side of the Rock to await the birds. After an unproductive morning Irving decided to climb up over the rock to see if the ducks might be on the other side. His eyes bulged as he saw the line of black clouds working its way swiftly over the lake pushing heaving white capped waves in front. He hurried back to his companion and they quickly set off for the mainland. Skiffs aren’t designed to handle rough weather.The storm caught up with them and rocked the boat too and fro. It was only with great fortune that they managed to reach shore. MORE Please Keep Us Posted on Your Address Changes
If you’ve had an address change recently, please send us an email so we can correct your files and ensure that we keep you updated on lake issues and LCC’s work. LCC’s primary form of communication with members is through email. By mailing electronically we save time and resources and reinforce the stewardship ethic of our mission. We don’t give away or sell email addresses. To ensure that our email messages get through to your inbox, please add lcc@lakechamplaincommittee.org and the domain enews.lakechamplaincommittee.org to your safe/allowed list and address book. Let us know if there is anyone whom you think would enjoy getting our Ripples E-News bulletins and please, forward it on to colleagues, friends, and relatives that share your love of the lake. We welcome your comments and suggestions for topics to include in future issues. Click here to send us your feedback. Thanks! LCC Links
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