Help with LCC's flood recovery efforts

There are good ways and bad ways to "dig deep" to protect water

Thank you for considering making a special donation to the Lake Champlain Committee's flood recovery efforts. Here's more information on the need.

This year we truly felt the power of water. Spring lake levels reached record heights and remained above flood stage for over two months. Then in August, Tropical Storm Irene slammed the region. Both events sent nutrients, sediment and debris flowing into Lake Champlain in unprecedented quantities. After decades of being trapped in narrowly confined channels, rivers across the region burst forth. In one week in early May, the Winooski River alone deposited 77 metric tons of phosphorus to the lake. That’s about half of the amount normally delivered in a year! The events of 2011 reinforce the urgency of the Lake Champlain Committee’s (LCC’s) work in the field, on the water, and in communities. Please help by making a special donation to our flood recovery efforts.

Misguided attempts to control nature after storms in the 1920s and 30s made the damage from this year’s events even worse. Extensive deepening and straightening of rivers wreaks havoc on our ecosystem and exacerbates future flooding. In the aftermath of 2011’s storms we must resist the urge to re-confine our waters.

Over the next year the Lake Champlain Committee will work to ensure that our communities’ response to flooding and Irene respects our rivers, our lakes, and our future generations. We will provide outreach to public officials, municipalities, citizens’ groups, and you, our members, about the critical role river floodplains play in lake protection. We must take this opportunity to protect our rivers. By doing so, we reduce future pollution loading to our lake and better guard public safety and property.

Your special donation will help in the work to adapt and respond to our changing environment. Storms in the Champlain Valley have increased in intensity so we need to re-evaluate how we build structures to manage stormwater and wastewater. For example, the size of road culverts and retention ponds is currently based upon increasingly outdated assumptions about how much water falls in an average storm. Likewise, flood hazard mitigation plans need to account for higher water levels – suggesting the need for more elevated roadways and buildings, increased shoreline setbacks and buffers, and environmentally sound shoreline stabilization practices. Planning and adapting today increases the resilience of our lake and our communities for future flood events.

Membership renewals only pay for a portion of LCC’s year-round advocacy, education, and field programs. We rely on additional gifts to help ensure the continuity of our programs and presence. This year, in the wake of the historic flooding and Tropical Storm Irene, LCC has an even more vital role to play. Please consider making a special donation, separate from annual membership, to assist our work in the aftermath of high waters.

Whether you are able to donate $10, $50, or $500, your dollars will truly matter in this corner of the world.

Many thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Lori Fisher
Executive Director