There are many ways you can get involved helping Lake Champlain and its Basin. Start by visiting these pages for tips:

• Champlain Connection: 5 Things You Can Do
• Lake-Friendly Cleaning Tips
• Lawn and Garden Contacts
• Lawn to Lake Website (lake-friendly lawns)
• Urban Runoff Poster Series
• Volunteer Opportunities

Ready to learn more tips? Check out these in-depth ideas below to dive deeper into saving the Lake!

Watershed Planning Tips

• Start or join a local watershed association to address pollution problems within the watershed.
• Become a member of planning boards and commissions in your municipality or county to help ensure a future that is beneficial to the Lake
• Attend public meetings and information sessions concerning your local watershed to learn about its unique qualities and resources.
• Involve as many different key players as possible when planning for your local watershed.

Lake Champlain Environmental Issue Tips

• Visit your local library to read about the Lake Champlain Basin, its history, characteristics, and problems.
• Join a civic organization, such as one that protects the Lake or a local watershed or one that promotes compatible economic development.
• Attend conferences, lectures, and presentations about Lake Champlain issues.
• Support the activities of organizations focused on improving water quality and natural habitat of Lake Champlain and its tributaries. Some of these activities include stream clean-ups, shoreline stabilization, and the planting of buffer strips around tributaries.

Phosphorous Pollution Reduction Tips

• Make a dish-wash switch to phosphorus free automatic dishwasher detergent. Read the Phosphorus-Free Automatic Dishwashing Detergents (27 KB in Adobe PDF) factsheet.
• Become an active member of a local watershed group.
• Use conservation practices on agricultural lands.
• Plant trees and vegetation to help hold soil in place and reduce erosion, particularly in areas next to surface water.
• Properly maintain your septic system, especially by pumping every few years.
• Wash your car with non-phosphorus and biodegradable soap on your lawn rather than on your driveway so that excess water and detergents can soak into the grass.
• Do not use unnecessary fertilizers. If you must fertilize a lawn, use phosphorus-free fertilizers. Learn more about P-free fertilizers on the Lawn to Lake website. A locally produced compost is a good option for flower and vegetable gardens.
  • Composting Association of Vermont
  • Champlain Valley Compost Company
  • Intervale Compost
  • Moo Doo
  • Planet Green
• Do not disturb ground cover unless absolutely necessary.
• Do not rake your yard waste into nearby streams, lakes or stormwater gutters.

Toxic Substance Pollution Prevention Tips

• Keep cars and boats in good working order and recycle your oil.
• Upgrade to a more environmentally-friendly outboard motor. New 4-stroke and direct fuel injection motors pollute less.
• Walk or ride a bicycle rather than driving an automobile.
• Use environmentally sound products, such as baking soda, vinegar, and lemon juice to clean your home.
• Do not pour chemicals or motor oil down storm drains or into your septic system.
• Do not top off your gas tank when refueling your automobile.
• Do not throw away materials like paint that could be used by others.
• Do not use anti-freeze or other chemicals to keep ice fishing holes open.
• Recycle batteries and fluorescent light bulbs.
• Medications and pharmaceuticals should not be flushed down the toilet. Medications can pass through water treatment plants and enter the environment, harming wildlife and ecosystems. It also may disrupt your septic system or the water treatment facility. Medications should be discarded in the trash, or brought to hazardous waste depots.
• Wondering what to do with your waste? Learn how to properly dispose of oil, chemicals, paint, pharmaceuticals, and more on the CSWD website.
  

Human Health Protection Tips

• Properly maintain your septic system, especially by pumping it out every few years.
• Obey posted signs at area beaches closed because of high fecal coliform levels.
• Do not dump sewage from your boat or home directly into the Lake.
• If you use water drawn from the Lake through a private water system, periodically test the water quality at your faucets for your safety.
• Do not swim in areas of the Lake where combined sewers or storm sewers discharge.
• Encourage your town or city to periodically test the outflow of their combined sewers or storm sewers for levels of fecal coliform and toxic contaminants.

Fish and Wildlife Protection Tips

Please help protect the Lake Champlain Basin's fish and wildlife:

• Keep domestic animals out of sensitive habitats such as alpine areas and bogs.
• Fence livestock out of riparian zones.
• Use measures such as streambank fencing, constructed wetlands and buffer strips to control nonpoint source pollution that causes habitat degradation.
• Use landscape practices which are beneficial to living natural resources and their habitats.
• Help limit the spread of water chestnut, zebra mussels, purple loosestrife and other nuisance nonnative species that can have negative effects on native fish and wildlife species and their habitats.
• Work with federal and state agencies and nonprofit organizations to protect fish and wildlife habitat through conservation easements and habitat protection and restoration programs.
• Learn to identify plant and animal species in the Basin to help researchers and managers better understand the distribution of these species in the Basin.

Nuisance Aquatic Plant and Animal Prevention Tips

• Each time a boat or other item is used in water bodies infested by zebra mussels or other nuisance aquatic species, the boat, trailer, and equipment should be carefully inspected for evidence of these species. Remove any mussels or vegetation and dispose of them in the trash.
• Drain all water from the boat, including the bilge, live well, and engine cooling system.
• Dry the boat and trailer in the sun for at least five days, or if you use your boat sooner, rinse off the boat, trailer, anchor, anchor line, bumpers, engine, etc. with hot water or at a car wash.
• Leave live aquatic bait and bait used in infested waters behind- either give it to someone using the same water body, or discard it in the trash.
• When recreating in areas infested with Eurasian watermilfoil, be careful not to break apart the plant since milfoil spreads by plant fragments.
• Contact the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, the Lake Champlain Basin Program, and the New York Department of Environmental Conservation to find out how to become involved in monitoring and outreach activities to help prevent the spread of nuisance nonnative aquatic species in the Lake Champlain Basin.

Wetland Protection Tips

• Become more aware of the presence of wetlands in your community and educate yourself and others about wetlands and why they should be protected.
• Do not plant nuisance aquatic plants, such as purple loosestrife, which displace wetland species and provide few benefits for wildlife.
• Support organizations that restore and/or protect wetlands.

Cultural Resource Protection Tips

• Think about what gives a community a sense of place. Encourage children to take a closer look at historic buildings and structures. Host a photo identification contest at the local library. Display ten or more close-ups of neighborhood buildings or structures. Zoom in on architectural features or patterns. Invite children to identify the photos. Award prizes at the end of the contest.
• Never sandblast historic brick buildings. It removes the protective glaze from the brick face.
• When re-painting, use mortar that is softer than the brick; never use concrete!
• Get involved in local planning decisions.
• Is there a museum or public historic building in your town that needs a face lift? How are the windows? Hire a consultant to do a training session on repairing historic sash. Rather than charging attendees, have each adopt one window for repair, one at a time.
• Take nothing from historic sites but photos and memories. Removal of artifacts is forbidden by law.
• SCUBA divers should allow wet suits and equipment to dry at least five days after diving in waters contaminated by zebra mussels and before diving in uncontaminated waters. If SCUBA divers do not have five days between dives, wet suits and equipment should be rinsed in 120 degree water for twenty minutes before diving in waters not infested by zebra mussels.