WhatsNewLCIWHAT'S NEW WITH LCI                     BACK TO TOP
Watch: The Pollution of Lake Champlain
Wondering how we wound up with toxic bacterial outbreaks in the waters of Lake Champlain and other lakes in the watershed--here is short video history. Watch Video

 

LakeChamplainBasinLAKE CHAMPLAIN BASIN          BACK TO TOP
State Rejects Petition for New Agricultural Regulations
MONTPELIER, VT -- The Vermont Agency of Agriculture will not require certain farms in the Missisquoi Bay basin to implement agricultural practices designed to improve water quality in Lake Champlain.

Chuck Ross, the secretary of the agency, rejected a petition from an environmental law firm calling on the state to enforce new best management practices to curb manure runoff from farms in the region.

The Conservation Law Foundation petitioned the state to enforce agricultural best management practices, or BMPs, that require farmers to plant cover crops and buffer areas, keep livestock away from waterways and contain manure on farms.

Ross said the state does not have the resources to help farmers comply with the new BMPs. State law requires the agency to provide farmers with financial assistance.  Read article and ruling
Franklin County Farm Pays $40,000 in Water Pollution Fines
ENOSBURGH FALLS, VT --  Illegal manure practices will cost a Franklin County farm tens of thousands of dollars in fines.

The Vermont Attorney General, Bill Sorrell, says a video shot by a concerned citizen shows the illegal discharges. Leach Farms in Enosburgh, VT is accused of filling its manure spreaders with water from Bogue Brook, then driving downstream and dumping the dirty, manure laden water back into the waterway. 

The AG says that the owners of the farm admitted to the water pollution violation and have agreed to pay $40,000 in fines.  See video
 
State Considers Pollution Trading Scheme to Reduce Phosphorus in Lake Champlain
The clean-up of Lake Champlain looms as perhaps the largest, and most expensive environmental challenge facing Vermont. State officials are exploring whether a cap-and-trade program for phosphorus runoff might help solve the problem.

"The idea of using the markets as a way of driving and incentivizing further pollution reduction is an enticing one," says VTDEC Commisioner David Mears. "It has worked in other scenarios. It's still relatively unproven in the context of nutrient pollution into waters."  Read more

 

Administration Suggests Fees to Fund Lake Champlain Cleanup
MONTPELIER, VT -- The Shumlin administration has recommended two sources of revenue to pay for plans to improve Lake Champlain's water quality, including a per parcel fee on impervious development and a 1 percent increase in the state's fertilizer tax.

The proposal said the total cost of implementing the state's near-term water quality priorities is unknown.

In order to raise $1 million annually, per-parcel development fees would range from $100 to $400 per equivalent residential unit, the report states. A 1 percent increase in the state excise tax on fertilizers would raise approximately $450,000 annually, it said. Read article
Dairy Farmers Warned After Complaints of Manure Runoff
A leading dairy group is urging farmers across New York to exercise more caution when spreading manure to avoid potentially strict new state mandates.

Northeast Dairy Producers Association, or NEDPA, formed a water quality work group earlier this year in response to dozens of documented runoff and well contamination complaints filed with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation.

"Our goal is to be as proactive as possible," said Tonya Van Slyke, NEDPA executive director.

The water quality work group is comprised of NEDPA and New York Farm Bureau dairy producers, staff from both groups, a Consolidated Animal Feeding Operation planner, and advisors from Cornell University's Pro-Dairy program and the New York State Soil and Water Conservation Committee. Read article

 

Glimpse into the Past of Lake Champlain
The newest book by The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, titled "Lake Champlain" is a pictorial history in the "Images of America" series from Arcadia Publishing.

With 188 historical images from the archives of The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum and other regional collections, the book presents a self-portrait of this unique region as it was captured by area residents when photography was new. Read article
 
Lake Champlain Pollution Puts Farming in the Spotlight
ST. ALBANS, VT. - Vermont's side of Lake Champlain might have a new summertime theme song: "It's Not Easy Being Green."

In September 2013, the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, announced it would set new phosphorus load limits for Lake Champlain due primarily to concerns about agricultural runoff in the north end, in dairy-rich Franklin County.

A year later, Franklin County residents are still reeling from one of the worst summers ever for toxic blue-green algae blooms. Over the summer, disgusting, smelly blooms infested shorelines along St. Albans Bay and Missisquoi Bay.Read article
Vermont EPSCoR Native American and First Generation Student Scholarship program 
To apply for a VT EPSCoR CWDD Student Scholarship, an applicant must be:

 1.  A Vermont resident and United States citizen

 2. A graduating senior at a Vermont high school planning to attend a Vermont college during the next academic year, OR a current undergraduate enrolled in a degree program at a Vermont college or university, with a GPA of 3.0 or above

3.  Enrolling or enrolled in a STEM major in college

4. Of Native American ancestry OR a first generation college student

Application deadline: April 1st.   More information
Phone: 802.654.3272
NEW! Sign-up with GoodSwipe to Help Lake Champlain
Now through everyday purchases with your debit or credit card at more than 50,000 stores around the nation, a percentage of your purchase can be donated to LCI! Learn how to sign-up here...

 

Lund Engineers New Standard in Big Water Fishing Boats
NEW YORK MILLS, MN --  New for the 2015 fishing season, Lund Boats unveils the new 2275 Baron-the legendary boat company's ultimate big water ride just got even better. Among a line-up of eight newly engineered Lund models, the well-appointed 2275 Baron measures precisely 22 feet, 9 inches in length, and boasts an expansive 102-inch beam-literally enough legroom to comfortably carry a starting football line-up, plus the coach.  Learn more


KidsOutsideGETTING KIDS OUTSIDE                BACK TO TOP
Take A Kid Ice Fishing
Ice Fishing Today guest Rory Larson returns with his buddy Nate this season to show us how great kids can be at the sport of Ice Fishing. Armed with Vexilars and the proper tackle, these guys catch 'em one right after the other. They even have time for an on-the-ice fish fry and show us how to clean the fish and cook them up. View video
Day Trips -- This Fall
NY -- NORTH COUNTRY NOW -- There are all kinds of things to do in the North Country.  Visit the Adirondack Fish Hatchery, Fort Ticonderoga, The Wild Center...and more this fall.  View List of Day Trips
 
NationWorldNATION & WORLD                          BACK TO TOP
EPA Launches a Voluntary Star-Rating Program to Reduce Pesticide Drift and Protect People, Wildlife and the Environment
WASHINGTON-The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing a new voluntary Drift Reduction Technology (DRT) program to encourage the use of verified, safer pesticide spray products to reduce exposure and pesticide movement while saving farmers money in pesticide loss.

"Every year state and local agencies receive thousands of complaints about the impacts of pesticide drift on people, wildlife and plants," said Jim Jones, Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention. "Our new star-rating system of products and technologies will help farmers reduce drift, protect neighbors and reduce costs by keeping more of the pesticide on the crop. We hope the new voluntary DRT will encourage the manufacture, marketing and use of safer spray technology and equipment scientifically proven to reduce pesticide drift."  Read article
Dead Zones are Coming for Your Rivers, Lakes, and Oceans
Halloween may have come and gone, but climate change continues to give us the creeps. A new study revealed that warmer temperatures are causing zombie-like "dead zones" in rivers, lakes, and oceans worldwide.

According to the stud recentlypublished in the journal Global Change Biology, researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center found two dozen ways that climate change is worsening dead zones.
Mosquitofish Genitalia Change Rapidly Due to Human Impacts
The road that connects also divides.

Half-century-old roads that connect portions of Bahamian islands while fragmenting the tidal waters below have lead to rapid and interesting changes in the fish living in those fragmented sections, according to a new study from North Carolina State University.

NC State Ph.D. student Justa Heinen-Kay and assistant professor of biological sciences R. Brian Langerhans published a paper in the journal Evolutionary Applications that demonstrates that male genitalia of three different species of Bahamian mosquitofish (Gambusia) living in fragmented waters differ markedly from the genitalia of fish living in unfragmented waters.

Fragmentation limits the number of mosquitofish predators which appear to have a link to the shape of the male fish's genitalia. Read article
The U.S. is Spending $4.5-Million to Save the Rarest Fish on Earth
The fish in question is the Devils Hole pupfish. One of the first species to be protected by the Endangered Species Preservation Act (now known as the Endangered Species Act), the unassuming, inch-long pupfish turned out to be a real rabble-rouser back in '60s and '70s, when defending the species and its hot, briny habitat - a 500-foot-deep aquifer in the Mojave Desert - led to water rights litigation that extended all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Today, close to 40 years later, there are fewer than 100 Devils Hole pupfish still alive, and the U.S. Government is spending millions to see that they (or at least their offspring) stay that way. In a recent piece for onEarth, the magazine of the Natural Resources Defense Council, journalist Jason Bittel presents a compelling case in favor of the conservation of this, he concedes, "useless" species.  Read article
 
TechnologyTECHNOLOGY  & INNOVATION            BACK TO TOP
This Algae Farm Eats Pollution from the Highway Below It
A highway overpass is the last place most of us would think to install a farm. But algae, that wonderful little ecological miracle, is different. Since it consumes sunlight and CO2 and spits out oxygen, places with high emissions are actually the perfect growing area. Which is why this overpass in Switzerland has its own algae farm.

Built this summer as part of a festival in Gen�ve, the farm is actually fairly simple: It thrives on the emissions of cars that pass below it, augmented by sunlight. A series of pumps and filters regulate the system, and over time, the algae matures into what can be turned into any number of usable products.  Read article
EventsAllEVENTS                                      BACK TO TOP
Let's Go Fishing Instructor Workshops for 2015 -- Sign Up
Workshops are scheduled for Saturday, March 28, 2015, at the Kehoe Green Mountain Conservation Camp in Castleton, and Saturday, April 11, 2015, at the Fish & Wildlife district office in Essex Junction. If you, or someone you know, would like to join the LGF team of incredible instructors, sign up today!  You need to be 18 years of age or older and want to share your love of fishing and/or knowledge of water resources with the younger generation. Sign up

 

Center for Sustainable Agriculture Calendar

BURLINGTON, VT -- University of Vermont, Center for Sustainable Agriculture Calendar of upcoming courses.  View calendar
 
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Looking for fishing & boating news? Then check out LCI's other monthly email newsletter, 'On the Hook!'
 
To subscribe to 'On the Hook,' click here and enter your email address. Simply follow the directions to update your subscription!
 
mychamplain.net | facebook.com/LakeChamplain | Donate | Become A Member

Lake Champlain International (LCI) is a federally recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit organization actively involved in shaping the future of Lake Champlain's water and fisheries health for the well-being of the people who depend on it today and tomorrow.  To protect, restore, and revitalize Lake Champlain and its communities, LCI educates, advocates, and motivates to ensure that Lake Champlain is swimmable, drinkable, and fishable, understanding that healthy water resources are essential for a healthy economy and a healthy community.

____________________________________________ 

 

kid fishing edited

 

Lake Champlain 

International, Inc.                          

531 Main Street

Colchester, VT 05446

802.879.3466  Fax: 802.879.1746 

  

a 501(c)(3) organization   


www.mychamplain.net

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