The Vermont Agency of Agriculture and Farm Markets (VAAFM) has released draft required agricultural practices (RAPs). The draft is driven by water quality legislation passed last spring in response to advocacy from LCC and others that agricultural controls needed to be strengthened.  Read...

In the first weekend of November there were two oil train derailments in Wisconsin. With these two accidents, at least 26 oil trains have been involved in major fires, derailments or spills during the last decade. Read...

The Vermont Agency of Agriculture held a hearing on November 12 in St. Albans on a proposal that would require best management practices (BMPs) on farms in the Missisquoi Bay Basin. BMPs are actions that go beyond the Required Agricultural Practices that are currently in draft form (see earlier article).  Read...

In August, representatives from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) visited LCC to interview Staff Scientist Mike Winslow on LCC’s role in implementing public health tracking of blue-green algae blooms on Lake Champlain.  Read...

Foliage season, bird migrations and the serenity of a near empty lake all beckon the fall paddler. It can be a wonderful time to be on the water – if you’re well prepared.  Read...

Agriculture is a significant source of phosphorus loading to Lake Champlain. Reductions of between 20 and 83% of current loads in targeted watersheds are needed to meet water quality standards. Improving soil health can reduce erosion and phosphorus loss from fields. Read...

“If we can live without goose music, we may as well do away with stars, or sunsets, Iliads. But the point is that we would be fools to do away with any of them.” – Aldo LeopoldRead...

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The summer of 2015 saw extensive disgusting blue-green algae blooms in northeastern bays of Lake Champlain, but much has occurred on the recent policy front to lend hope about the future of Lake Champlain. Vermont passed a new clean water bill whose implementation should improve many practices around the state that affect water quality.  Read...

On Thursday November 12 the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets will hold a public hearing on a new plan to require Best Management Practices (BMPs) on farms in the Missisquoi Bay basin as well as St. Albans, Otter Creek and South Lake watersheds.  Read...

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was in Plattsburgh in late July to muster support for a bill to ban microbeads from our nation’s waters. The proposed bill would amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to prohibit the distribution of any cosmetic that contains synthetic plastic microbeads. Read...

The EPA has put forth an ambitious pollution budget for Lake Champlain (the TMDL). In some places that budget is too ambitious, calling for reductions that just aren’t realistic. That was the message from LCC at a public meeting in South Burlington.  Read...

The Willsboro Dam on the Boquet River was removed in August opening over 30 miles of river to spawning by Atlantic salmon. The 125-year old dam, a relic of the area’s milling past, was falling apart. The roughly $250,000 cost of removal was around four times less than the cost of repair or replacement.  Read...

Agriculture is a significant source of phosphorus loading to Lake Champlain. Reductions of between 20 and 83% of current loads in targeted watersheds are needed to meet water quality standards. Improving soil health can reduce erosion and phosphorus loss from fields.  Read...

In order to address lake shore erosion issues you first have to know what is causing the erosion. It is easy to look at the broad expanse of the lake and assume the crashing waves are the source of the problem, even when it’s not true.  Read...

Vermont Public Radio took an in-depth look at pollution sources and solutions in their recent Downstream series. Read...

As part of Vermont Public Radio's attention to water, LCC Staff Scientist Mike Winslow provided the following commentary for the station, which you can listen to on-line. Read...

Algae blooms have become common across the country and across the world. While some of the places they are appearing have a history of nuisance levels, in other places the blooms are considered new or rare.  Read...

LCC has been working hard to educate the public about blue-green algae. For years now we have offered algae monitor training sessions to instruct anyone interested in how to distinguish blue-green algae from other floating phenomena and what the health risks are of exposure to blue-green algae.  Read...

The white water lilly (Nymphaea odorata) is surely reason enough to paddle in quite still waters. The plant grows in ponds, lakes, slow stream and ditches from Newfoundland to Saskatchewan and south to Central America.  Read...

Read about the Burlington Pharmaceutical Survey, the return of Lake Sturgeon, flood damages in Central VT, endangered species and more! Read...

The Lake Champlain Basin Program released their 2015 State of the Lake report on June 30. The report states that, “although water quality trends in Lake Champlain are cause for concern. . .more than 85% of Lake Champlain’s water is consistently of excellent quality and another 13% of the water is usually in quite good condition. In the remaining 2% of the Lake, conditions are seasonally alarming... Read...

For the second time in seven years a Vermont town has lowered the assessed value of lakeside property due to pollution, according to Vermont Public Radio. In both cases, the towns in question were located on St. Albans Bay where blue-green algae blooms routinely develop during the summer. Read...

LCC Executive Director Lori Fisher spent a few days in Washington DC last month with colleagues from the America's Great Waters Coalition. Organized by the National Parks Conservation Association and the National Wildlife Federation, the Coalition includes representatives from the Chesapeake Bay, the Great Lakes, Everglades, Puget Sound, New York/New Jersey Harbor, the Gulf of Maine, and Mississippi River, Lake Champlain and other great waters across the nation. Read...

Mega retailer Walmart was fined $98,000 by New York State for selling phosphorus fertilizer without appropriate signage. As a result, and to avoid future such fines, Walmart has agreed to remove all phosphorus lawn fertilizer from its store shelves. The law restricting the use of phosphorus fertilizer on lawns went into effect in New York in 2012. Read...

Hats off to the great group of dedicated blue-green algae monitoring volunteers who are reporting on water quality from over 80 Lake Champlain shoreline locations, six sites on Lake Carmi and one on Lake Iroquois. LCC has trained over 300 individuals this season to identify blue-green algae, including state and municipal recreational staff and water treatment system operators. Read...

The 2015 edition of the Lake Champlain Paddlers' Trail guidebook is out! It’s jam-packed with helpful information for great adventures on the water including site descriptions and chartlets for 43 Trail locations (with access to over 600 campsites), launch site listings, natural history articles, safety and stewardship tips, equipment check lists and more! Read...

In late June, LCC members John Little and Jim Wakefield headed down the lake in a handcrafted canoe on a paddle to New York City. Both are science teachers and experienced outdoorsmen, and they have paddled many waterways together. Below is John's account of the first leg of their journey.  Read...

Ponds can be an aesthetic addition to a property, but they also pose a danger during times of flooding. Ponds built within floodplains become magnets for rising waters. Streams can “capture” the pond which then exacerbates downstream damage when the pond blows out.  Read...