It’s nice this time of year, when we’re busy putting the final touches on the LCBP budget for next year and moving new projects forward for the upcoming field season, to get out and connect with the public and share the wonders of Lake Champlain and the Basin.

One of the most rewarding things we as a staff heard last year was from a young boy who exclaimed to his father “I learned so much today!” as he was leaving the World Water Day celebration at the Champlain Centre in Plattsburgh. We’re thrilled to help bring this event to the mall again on Saturday this coming weekend.

Outreach events like World Water Day, our Love the Lake speaker series, or the daily connections made at the Resource Room at ECHO energize us and remind us of the importance of our work and the remarkable place we call home. We hope you’ll join us or our partners at an event soon and leave saying, “I learned so much today!”

After last year’s successful World Water Day celebration at the Champlain Centre in Plattsburgh, New York, the Champlain Basin Education Initiative (CBEI) and the mall are hosting the event again this year. The LCBP, Champlain Centre, and the Champlain Basin Education Initiative invite the public to participate on Saturday, March 16th, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Visitors can join in hands-on activities and exhibits celebrating water, learn how to fish, explore the Lake Champlain Basin on a giant floor map, hear clean water stories from scientists, historians, watershed groups and local agencies, and view student entries into the CBEI World Water Day Contest! The first 100 people to get their passport filled by visiting with six exhibitors will win a coupon for free ice cream from Stewarts! 

See details about the 2024 World Water Day Celebration →

With 34,298 visitors, 2023 was the busiest year on record at our Resource Room at the ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain. This included a visit by the Resource Room’s 500,000th guest since it opened its doors in 2003. Along with ECHO visitors, the Resource Room staff welcomed many classes and groups, including Vermont AmeriCorps, the University of Vermont, and the Burma Youth Leadership Program. The team is available seven days a week to answer questions about Lake Champlain, and free Resource Room passes (does not include admission to ECHO) are available to visit the room for research.

Contact the LCBP Resource Room →

Our staff at the LCBP Resource Room at ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain have fielded a wide variety of questions from the public for more than 20 years. As educators, naturalists, and scientists, they often have had ready answers for many questions. Others have required a little more research. For much of this time, they’ve kept a log of the most compelling questions. In Lake Log, we dive deeper into the answers to many of these questions.

Read Lake Log and sign up to receive notifications about new posts →

On January 30th and 31st, members of the Vermont Citizens Advisory Committee on Lake Champlain's Future met with Governor Scott, Lt. Governor Zuckerman, Speaker Krowinski, Commissioner Batchelder (VTDEC), Deputy Commissioner Pembrook (VTDEC) and several committees of the Vermont General Assembly to present the 2024 Lake Champlain Action Plan. The VTCAC shared the committee's perspective and recommendations on several lake issues with an emphasis on building community resilience to climate change impacts and restoration of ecological function.

Learn more about the Citizens Advisory Committees →

We were excited this winter to offer a full roster of Love the Lake speakers for the first time since the COVID pandemic ended our 2020 series one week early. Over four weeks, invited speakers discussed invasive species, the importance of forests to water quality in Lake Champlain, the impacts of the summer 2023 floods on water quality, and underwater archaeology of Revolutionary War shipwrecks. As usual, the presentations were served up with homemade desserts prepared by LCBP staff. The Love the Lake series was started in 2004 in memory of our former co-worker, Jane Potvin. Jane, a long-time resident of the Champlain islands, had owned a bait shop and served as a former Vermont State legislator before joining the LCBP. She was a champion for Lake Champlain’s future.

Watch recordings of the Love the Lake presentations →

Take a moment to imagine a mountain stream: cold water rushing over boulders and pebbles, dried leaves swirling on riffles, cascading down and down. Where is the water going?

For those of us who live, work, and play near the outer reaches of the Lake Champlain watershed, atop summits or near the marshy springs where the headwaters of our region’s rivers originate, we may feel only a distant connection to Lake Champlain. And yet, from summit to shoreline, our lives and actions impact the health of this shared waterbody.

We’re excited to share a preview of Summit to Shoreline, an interactive film and mapping project carried out in collaboration with Peregrine Productions. No matter the distance from our lives to Lake Champlain, Summit to Shoreline allows us all to picture our place in the Basin.

The West Branch of Little River is an upper tributary of the Winooski River that winds through Smuggler’s Notch, a narrow pass through Vermont’s Green Mountains that connects the towns of Stowe and Jeffersonville, before joining the Little River in Stowe and eventually the Winooski River in Waterbury.

Stay tuned as we approach launch this spring!

LCMM: Removing barriers to access in 2024

Lake Champlain Maritime Museum (LCMM) is continuing to remove barriers to access, an initiative begun in 2021. With LCBP support, the Museum will continue in 2024 to offer free admission and pay-what-you-can camps and expeditions, two programs that have proven successful in recent years. In addition, LCMM will implement new multilingual visitor materials and expanded on-site, hands-on science and lake ecology programming for all visitors to the Museum.
Read more →

Keeler Bay Restoration

With guidance and support from the South Hero community, Grand Isle County NRCD undertook a planning project aimed at reducing phosphorus and sediment input to Keeler Bay. Through the technical framework of the Vermont DEC Lake Watershed Action Plan, Grand Isle County NRCD identified 25 potential clean water projects and prioritized them for future funding opportunities based on water quality benefits, project feasibility, maintenance requirements, costs, and additional benefits. The assessment was enhanced by a series of two educational events and three presentations to the community.
Read more →

Stormwater Mitigation & Education

Lewis Creek Association in cooperation with the Lyman Meadows Condominium Association created a concept design for stormwater treatment in the Hinesburg condominiums and made recommendations regarding flooding issues on the property. This subwatershed of Hinesburg, which drains into the LaPlatte River, was identified in past studies as an important area for stormwater treatment, as it has reduced river stability, habitat condition, and water quality. The condos served as a demonstration site for citizens and students through Lewis Creek Association’s Ahead of the Storm program. Project coordinators visited sixth graders at Hinesburg Community School, where they led in-classroom stormwater activities, presented about stormwater, and led the students on a walk around the neighborhood to map flow paths.

Illicit Discharge Elimination in Plattsburgh, NY

The City of Plattsburgh has nearly completed the third phase in a multi-year project targeting wastewater contamination in stormwater systems. The project, when complete, will significantly reduce phosphorus, E. coli, and other harmful discharge from Plattsburgh’s stormwater outfalls to Lake Champlain. During initial phases of the project work, partners assessed 72 stormwater outfalls in Plattsburgh City and Town, 22 of which were highlighted for advanced investigation. All but six storm drains have been assessed by Stone Environmental, project contractor for the City of Plattsburgh Department of Public Works. The final six outfalls will be visited in spring 2024. Final reporting will estimate potential reductions in phosphorus and E. coli, as well as provide a comprehensive plan for eliminating illicit discharges and improving both local and lake-wide water quality.

The LCBP, in coordination with NEIWPCC, is pleased to announce these new funding opportunities:

Communities with Disadvantages Liaison
This grant program aims to support efforts to engage, develop, or continue to strengthen relationships with Communities with Disadvantages in the Lake Champlain Basin. Successful projects will engage Communities with Disadvantages in discussions, planning, or implementation efforts to identify and address water quality, habitat, recreation, or access concerns in the Lake Champlain watershed. This grant opportunity will support direct engagement over multiple years to build relationships with Communities with Disadvantages to identify and elevate the needs and concerns of communities that face barriers to accessing or participating in water quality improvement programs and processes.

Up to $400,000 is available to support this program.

Deadline: April 11, 2024

Land Acquisition and Conservation
These grants will support projects resulting in the acquisition of the fee simple interest or conservation easements that provide high value in furtherance of LCBP’s Clean Water, Healthy Ecosystems, Thriving Communities, or Informed and Involved Public Goals. Such projects include the acquisition of lands or conservation easements that protect or improve water quality and aquatic habitat, mitigate the adverse effects of climate change, or provide climate resiliency.

Up to $6,000,000 is available to support awarded projects. Each applicant may request a minimum of $100,000 up to a maximum of $2,000,000 for an individual proposal. Multiple proposals will be accepted from a single organization in response to this RFP.

Deadline: This deadline has been extended to Wednesday, July 17.

Visit our the LCBP website for details of these RFPs and to apply →

State of the Lake Fisheries Meeting
March 23, 2024 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Whallonsburg Grange, Essex, New York
The Lake Champlain Fish and Wildlife Management Cooperative—a working group of fisheries professionals from the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service—will host their annual ‘State of the Lake Fisheries’ meeting for anglers and other individuals interested in the fisheries of Lake Champlain.
Learn more →

Watershed for Every Classroom
July 16–19, 2024 and and five additional days in 2024 and 2025
Various Locations
Explore the stories of the Lake Champlain Basin as told by its people and places. Learn how these stories offer a variety of ways to teach all subjects and engage students in learning in and about their community while building their sense of belonging to their home place.

The program is best suited for educators working with grades 4-9 but is applicable to all subject areas and grades.

Learn more and register →

LCBP Committee Meetings

• LCBP Technical Advisory Committee, April 3, 2024
• Vermont Citizens Advisory Committee, April 8, 2024
• Lake Champlain Steering Committee, April 16-17, 2024
• New York Citizens Advisory Committee, April 22, 2024
• LCBP Technical Advisory Committee, May 1, 2024
• Lake Champlain Executive Committee, May 2, 2024
• New York Citizens Advisory Committee, May 20, 2024
• State of the Lake 2024 Release Event, June 5, 2024
• Lake Champlain Steering Committee, June 6, 2024

View the LCBP’s full meeting schedule →