UVM Extension Assistance Reduces Runoff from 58,608 Acres

Cover crops help prevent erosion when fields are fallow. Photo courtesy UVM Extension.

With funding from LCBP, University of Vermont (UVM) Extension staff have been working directly with more than 260 farmers in the Lake Champlain watershed in Vermont to implement farm practices that reduce soil and nutrient losses to surface water. The Agronomy and Conservation Assistance Program (ACAP) was initiated in 2011 to provide an increased level of direct one-on-one technical assistance for livestock and crop farmers, with the goal of improving water quality in Lake Champlain and tributaries through permanent adoption of new farm management practices that enhance water quality and also improve their farms’ economic sustainability.

As a direct result of outreach and technical assistance provided by UVM agronomists and support staff, a total of 461 conservation practices were implemented in the watershed, reducing soil and nutrient runoff from 58,608 acres of cropland and associated livestock production facilities. Efforts were focused on the Missisquoi River watershed, St. Albans Bay, the Otter Creek watershed and lands with direct discharge to Lake Champlain in these areas. Implementation of conservation practices included 20,897 acres covered by nutrient management plans on 47 farms, 8,109 acres of alternative manure management on 28 farms, 13,559 acres of reduced tillage and no-till planting on 164 farms, 12,360 acres of cover crops on 125 farms, 15 livestock exclusion projects, and 68 other best management practices installed during the three-year project.

LCBP funding from the Great Lakes Fishery Commission was secured in 2010 through the efforts of U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy and awarded to UVM and Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (VTDEC). University of Vermont Extension hired two agronomists to work with farmers in the Northern and Central portions of the Lake Champlain watershed. This was part of a larger ACAP project with a third agronomist hired by the Poultney-Mettowee Natural Resources Conservation District (PMNRCD) to work in the South Lake portion of the watershed. The UVM agronomists collaborated with the PMNRCD agronomist and with three other agronomists within the watershed who were providing similar technical assistance through the Lake Champlain Strategic Watershed Action Team (SWAT) funded by Vermont USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Learn more about the agronomy program at the UVM Extension website.

Boat Launch Stewards Target AIS Spread

Each year between Memorial Day and Labor Day, LCBP’s Lake Champlain boat launch stewards greet visitors launching and retrieving their vessels at Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife (VTFWD) and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) boat access sites on Lake Champlain. Stewards conduct courtesy boat inspections for aquatic invasive species, collect survey data, and talk to visitors about how they can help to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species. 

In the program’s eighth season, the 2014 stewards encountered 14,175 vessels and spoke with 31,159 individuals about aquatic invasive species spread prevention. Most vessels had been used only in Lake Champlain in the previous two weeks (the period of time for most concern with AIS), but a significant number of vessels had been in other water bodies in the region, which increases the risk of introduction or spread of AIS. For example, 369 vessels had previously been in the Hudson River, where there are 122 known nonnative and invasive species, prior to launching in Lake Champlain.

Stewards collected 1,566 aquatic organisms from boats, trailers, and equipment. Nearly 12% of boats had an aquatic organism present; 6.7% of boats carried invasive species. This is up from 2.5% in 2013. Commonly found aquatic invasive species include Eurasian water milfoil, curlyleaf pondweed, zebra mussels, variable leaf milfoil, and water chestnut. The good news is that over 80% of visitors had spoken to a boat launch steward in the past, and reported having taken spread prevention measures such as washing their boat, draining their bilge, drying their boat and equipment, disposing of bait properly, and disinfecting their livewell.

The Lake Champlain data has been combined with other regional boat launch steward data from the Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute Program, Lake George, and other lake associations to better describe boat movement in the Adirondack region. This data is helping partners in the region to think about where boat wash and decontamination stations might be best installed to help prevent the spread of AIS.

Learn more about AIS Spread Prevention >>

2014 International CVNHP Summit Inspires

John Krueger, Plattsburgh City Historian and Chair of the LCBP’s Heritage Area Program Advisory Committee, kicked off the summit with a walking tour of historic highlights in Plattsburgh.

"Hugely helpful and inspiring" is how one participant described the 2014 International CVNHP Summit, held in Plattsburgh, NY on October 27. Nearly 60 people gathered to share National Heritage Area success stories, discuss marketing of shared resources and interpretation of conservation, and identify emerging opportunities to strengthen the partnership. Keynote speaker Rolf Diamant, former superintendent of Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Site, discussed Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Green Legacy in New York and Vermont.

Partners from Vermont, New York, and Québec provided a foundation of inspiration on which to build the later brainstorming sessions. Jill Breit of Traditional Arts in Upstate New York (TAUNY) showcased Songs to Keep, a regional Emmy Award-winning collection of North Country folk music. Françoise Boucher-Boutin of the Auberge Harris and Lou Bresee of Lake Champlain Bikeways discussed a new mobile app for bike trails in Québec and the proposed Western New England Greenway, a cycling route that connects Montreal with Manhattan. Cheryl Young and Bull Muench of the Burr and Burton Academy demonstrated their students’ work in producing films on community history.

The breakout sessions of the conference generated new program and project ideas for the CVNHP FY2015 workplan and budget. The 2015 CVNHP International Summit will be hosted in Vermont.

Plankton Perform at the Resource Room

Flying hamburger buns, torpedoes with giant eyebrows, spiny water fleas: One of these Seussian-sounding objects was a real creature spied this summer under the microscope at the LCBP Resource Room within ECHO at the Leahy Center for Lake Champlain. For most visitors to the Resource Room who viewed plankton swimming under the scope, it was a new and eye-opening experience. “I thought plankton lived in the ocean!”  “They move so fast!”  “You mean these are in the water when I go swimming?”

Visitors were astonished to see these strange creatures with unusual names. The hamburger buns were ostracods, miniature clams that swim so smoothly they seem to fly. Copepods with arched antennae looked like the heavy-browed torpedoes. Kids found water mites and diaphanosoma waterfleas the most exciting plankton because they move rapidly, zipping in and out of view, almost too fast to see. The more patient observers enjoyed watching the antics of oligochaete worms. These wriggly creatures built stiff, straight cases out of algae and pull themselves inside to hide, then slowly crept halfway out to look for food—only to disappear again in an instant if disturbed.

Unfortunately, the spiny water flea is no figment of Seussian imagination. The Lake Champlain Long-Term Biological Monitoring Program first confirmed the presence of the invasive species of zooplankton in the Lake in August. Spiny water fleas began to appear in the weekly Burlington Bay sample collected by Resource Room staff in September. Many visitors were eager to see—alive!—the new invasive species. Resource Room staff could point to living examples of other plankton species, when discussing the effect the spiny water flea might have on the Lake Champlain plankton community and subsequent repercussions further up the aquatic food chain.

Visit the LCBP Resource Room at ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center >>

Read about the discovery of spiny water flea in Lake Champlain. >>

Watershed for Every Classroom participants complete Days 6-7!

WEC teachers participate in an observation and journaling exercise at the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge.

Nineteen WEC educators explored the northern portion of the Champlain watershed on October 17-18 as days 6-7 of the 11-day Watershed for Every Classroom graduate course unfolded.

During a visit to the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge, educators compared watershed curriculum plans and completed outdoor observation and inquiry skill activities that could be duplicated with their students. Following an afternoon visit to the Guy Choinere farm in Highgate, they focused on systems learning, explored how the natural and human cycles on a farm must be linked closely for animal health, crop health, and economic sustainability to succeed. Guy discussed water quality improvement projects that the farm has undertaken to protect the Rock River, and reinforced the critical importance of soil health, not just on the farm but in other land use areas of the watershed.  On day two, the educators explored Venise-en-Québec on Missisquoi Bay, discussing blue-green algae monitoring and data access for student analysis, citizen science opportunities, and building bridges between service and learning.

The Champlain Basin Initiative (CBEI) Watershed for Every Classroom program is a year-long professional development experience for K-12 teachers in the Lake Champlain Basin. The course offers teachers inspiration, knowledge, and skills to frame exciting watershed education.

For more information, please visit the WatershED Matters website.

Watershed Groups Convene

Keynote speaker Roy Schiff of Milone and MacBroom discusses recent projects that have helped people live in harmony with rivers.

Watershed groups in Vermont and upstate New York gathered recently in Burlington to attend a workshop hosted by the Lake Champlain Basin Program and Watersheds United Vermont. This multi-track program was designed to strengthen organizational skills and also update members on technical issues. Topics discussed include tile drainage, small dam removal, and best management practices for stream resilience.  There were also sessions on goal setting, implementing an action plan, and fundraising. Presenters included public and private sector representatives from New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York.

Buffer Lake George

With an LCBP Shoreline Habitat grant, the Fund for Lake George initiated the Buffer Lake George Program to mitigate excessive nutrient loading by infiltrating runoff and absorbing nutrients before they flow unfiltered into the lake. In cooperation with local Water Quality Awareness Committees, the Program identified and buffered 20 shoreline properties around the lake. Each site was evaluated by the Lake George Waterkeeper staff to determine if the location would effectively control soil erosion, mitigate stormwater runoff, and provide habitat for wildlife. The Waterkeeper Steering Committee developed protocols to assure the quality of the projects and ensure property owner commitment, and worked with local nursery and landscaping professionals to develop plans for each property to implement plantings.

Manchester Heritage Project

Students from Burr and Burton Academy in Manchester connected with the region’s history through a CVNHP Local Heritage Grant. Students in the academy’s film class interviewed and filmed residents—including a 104-year-old former Burr and Burton student, a local poet, a veteran of the German Army who fought in World War II, and various tradespeople from the greater Manchester region including the towns of Dorset, Pawlet, Rupert, Londonderry, and Peru.  The interviews were edited using professional software and are available for viewing on the Voices of Vermont website.

Lessons from the Floods

Recent flood events are forcing Vermont communities to re-examine their relationships with water. In "Lessons from the Floods" the Lake Champlain Committee sought examples from communities that are particularly vulnerable to flooding, and those that are trying to better prepare for the next flooding event. As LCC toured the region and listened to stories of flood damage several themes resurfaced. They identified eight “lessons” to be considered by communities seeking to increase their resilience to and recovery from future flood events. Lessons learned include berms create a false sense of security; floodplain development puts entire communities at risk; and advanced preparation pays off. LCBP supported this project with a Shoreline Habitat Local Implementation Grant. Read about all eight Lessons from the Floods.

Aerial Cover Crop Seeding

This summer, eight New York farms totaling 414 acres were aerially seeded with cereal rye in a project jointly sponsored by the Lake Champlain Basin Program and the Washington County Soil and Water Conservation District. Aerial seeding allows farmers to establish cover crops before the corn is harvested, helping to protect the soil from erosion during the winter months. This project follows a 2013 LCBP grant awarded to UVM-Extension that helped to aerially seed 1,500 acres in Vermont with cover crops. An additional LCBP-funded project is underway currently with UVM-Extension in the St Albans Bay watershed promoting cover crop establishment in high-priority agricultural zones.

CBEI One-Day Educators Conference

January 24, 2015
Join the Champlain Basin Education Initiative (CBEI) Partners as they consider how to structure investigations of place using a variety of technologies. Dr. Lesley-Ann Dupigny-Giroux, UVM Professor Climatology and Vermont State Climatologist, will deliver the keynote address "Nimble and Active: Using technology to respond to real-world events in a changing climate." Small group workshops will include mapping, photography, video, and weather data collection and analysis.

Visit the WatershED Matters website for details.

Love the Lake

John Buck with the VT Fish & Wildlife Department demonstrates the wingspans of Vermont raptors.

Thursdays, Febraury 19 – March 12, 6:30 p.m. at the LCBP office in Grand Isle, VT
Save the dates! More fascinating talks and delicious desserts are on the menu this winter. Speakers to be determined. All presentations begin at 6:30.

World Water Day Celebration and Contest

March 19, 2015
Celebrate World Water Day with the Champlain Basin Education Initiative! Rachael Miller, co-founder of the Rozalia Project, will be the guest speaker. Grade K-12 classrooms can enter the Water Day contest with projects that celebrate the wonders and benefits of water in the Lake Champlain Basin and worldwide, with submissions in one of four categories: Celebrate Water, Spread the Word, Citizen Science and Civic Action, and Think Globally, Act Locally. Visit LCBP’s Events Calendar for more details.

Annual Nonpoint Source Pollution Conference

April 28-29, 2015, Freeport Maine
The 26th Annual Nonpoint Source Pollution Conference for the New England states and New York is coordinated by New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC) in partnership with its member states and the Environmental Protection Agency. The conference is the premier forum for sharing information about nonpoint source pollution (NPS) issues and projects in this region. In 2015, the conference sessions will reflect the following theme: “The Watershed Approach:  Addressing Today’s Challenges with an Eye on the Future.”

The regional conference will bring together many of those in New England and New York State involved in NPS pollution management, including participants from state, federal, and municipal governments; the private sector; academia; and watershed organizations. For more information, please visit NEIWPCC Nonpoint Source Pollution Conference website.

IAGLR 2015

May 25-29, 2015
Researchers from around the world will gather in Burlington, Vermont, for the International Association of Great Lakes Research (IAGLR) 58th Annual Conference. A great program is in store with four days of scientific sessions and speakers focusing on the theme "New Views New Tools." Mark your calendars for May 25-29, 2015. Abstracts for oral and poster presentations are due January 23. Visit the IAGLR 2015 website for more information.