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For about as long as we have had agriculture, we have had agricultural pests—insects and other creatures who make their living off food we grow. We’ve been in an evolutionary showdown with these pests for centuries, adapting new technologies to better protect our food. The stakes of the back and forth increased dramatically with the advent of chemical pesticides. In the 1980’s, a specific class of pesticide was developed called neonicotinoids, or “neonics”. These are versatile chemicals that can be added to irrigation water, onto plant tissue, or treated on a plant’s seeds so they’re built into the plant as it grows. The chemical binds with receptors in insects’ central nervous systems, which leads to paralysis and ultimately death. They are the most widely used chemical insecticide in the world, accounting for roughly 25% of global pesticide use, and are in an estimated 99% of corn seeds in Vermont as well as most corn seeds in New York. In the scope of the tit-for-tat battle we’ve been engaged in with pests this may seem like a win for humans. But, as with all things in nature, pesticides do not exist in a vacuum—there are wide-ranging unintended consequences of neonics on ecological systems above and below the water. Read...

Stormwater runoff poses a major challenge for water quality in Lake Champlain. When rain falls on impervious surfaces, it does not have the chance to infiltrate into the ground and instead flows over roofs, parking lots, and roads—collecting pollutants and nutrients along the way—until it eventually reaches the lake, untreated. Runoff from developed land contributes more phosphorus to Lake Champlain than any other land use type per area. As the intensity and frequency of heavy precipitation events increases with climate change, efforts to mitigate stormwater runoff are increasingly critical. LCC has done extensive work on stormwater reduction at schools over the years including producing a stormwater education manual, conducting storm drain stenciling projects with educational facilities and municipalities, undertaking “Ahead of the Storm” stormwater assessments, and collaborating with Lake Champlain Sea Grant (LCSG) to develop the Soaking Up Stormwater Curriculum Guide.

Schools provide ideal locations for both educational work and stormwater reduction efforts given their central role within communities and many of them also have extensive areas of impervious surface from large buildings and parking lots. Bellows Free Academy in St. Albans Vermont (BFA St. Albans) was a particularly apt setting for LCC to pilot our 2023 school stormwater reduction project (funded through a grant from the Lake Champlain Basin Program) because of its proximity to Stevens Brook, a stream designated as an impaired waterway by the State of Vermont, and St. Albans Bay, an area with high levels of phosphorus and frequency of cyanobacteria blooms. We teamed up with school staff and students along with Lake Champlain Sea Grant (LCSG) to assess conditions and develop a project to address the most challenging on-site stormwater issues at the school’s campus in downtown St. Albans.

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American bullfrogs (Lithobates catesbeianus) are deeply associated with spring and summer–their deep “jug-o-rum” serenade evokes images of hot summer nights: fireflies, and leafed-out trees. But what are they up to during cooler times? As with all living things in the Lake Champlain region, bullfrogs need to adapt to the winter season, and as aquatic amphibians, many do this in the lake itself.

Like other frogs, bullfrogs are true cold-blooded amphibians, which means that they need to regulate their body temperature through their environment–seeking sun when they’re too cold, and shade when they’re too hot. This is not as easy in the winter, so bullfrogs opt for hibernation. They do this underwater in shallower sections of the lakebed where temperatures are more stable and remain above freezing. Read...

While the winter of 2024 has been unseasonably warm, we still needed to turn on the heat and don extra layers to adjust to the seasonal change. But what about the lake’s vegetative life? How have the native aquatic plants of Lake Champlain evolved to survive winter? Read...

We don’t often give surface water much thought on its journey after it enters a storm drain–out of sight, out of mind. But the health of the waters going through storm drains is intrinsically tied to the health of all of our waters. It’s a common misconception that storm drains usually lead to wastewater treatment plants. In reality, most of this water is directly discharged into nearby waterbodies, and in the Lake Champlain basin, that means it eventually winds up in the lake. Before runoff enters a storm drain, it can pick up a wide range of pollutants and nutrients from the streets, fields, and sidewalks it rolls over.

One way you can help improve the water quality of stormwater runoff is by cleaning storm drains on your street. These drains, particularly during periods of spring rains and snowmelt, can become clogged with trash, sediment, and leaves and other organic matter. When runoff is prevented from entering the storm drain, it is spending more time on the streets collecting pollutants before it is discharged. Organic materials that clog storm drains also leach phosphorus into the water, which feeds cyanobacteria blooms.

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The changing of the seasons in the Lake Champlain Basin brings new wonders to the avian world. Cartoonist, writer, avid birder, and graduate of the University of Vermont’s Field Naturalist Program Rosemary Mosco broke down the four seasons of bird watching in the Northeast US: Elegant Songbird Spring, Subtle Treasures of Summer, Magnificent Fall Migrations, and the season we are now in—Weird Duck Time. Read...

LCC is working with a coalition of partners in support of Vermont legislation to protect pollinators and water ecosystems by dramatically curtailing the use of “neonics”. H.706 would phase out up to 90% of neonics over the course of the next five years, with certain emergency exemptions for farmers. Help get this bill passed by contacting your state reps today and asking them to support H.706. Read...