Creatures Great & Small
Something's Fishy
Towards a Healthier Lake
Boats & Treasures
Let Me Tell YOU
100
Bridget Butler, aka "Bird Diva" presented to our audiences three times. Bridget convinced our largest Love the Lake audience, 57 people, to imitate the sound of an owl species which inhabits the Lake Champlain watershed. Which species do we sound like in this video clip?
What is a barred owl?
100
In the early 90's Lake Champlain VT Fish and Wildlife staff were not sure if this large bottom feeding fish still had a reproducing population in Lake Champlain. Enter Chet MacKenzie, former VT F&W fisheries biologist and his team who studied tributaries to Lake Champlain seeking signs of nesting habitat. Eventually they found evidence of both viable males and females. Now that they struck gold, the field staff then began using a scientific technique to determine their spawning patterns. Tell me what that technique is called.
What is tagging?
100
The LCBP Resource Room at the ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain truly exemplifies a community partnership. LCBP utilizes ECHO's space to discuss efforts underway to improve our watershed, showcase cool pollution reduction efforts undertaken by local watershed groups (e.g. Friends of Winooski River or Boquet River Association), and helps ECHO guests dive deeper into topics they've learned about during their visit. Resource Room staff works diligently seven days/week encouraging visitors to take action steps which reduce pollution such as volunteering to plant trees or reducing salt in their neighborhood. To date, LCBP has greeted many guests. That number is now 185,000, 310,000, or 560,000. Give me your best guess.
What is 560,000?
100
Doug Brooks, boat builder from Vergennes, discussed the craftsmanship of building wooden boats on Lake Champlain. He brought one particular boat with him for his presentation. Tell me what you remember about this boat and why Addison County farmers used them.
What is a Lake Champlain trapping boat? (used to trap muskrat that damaged crops)
100
The Love the Lake presentations began in 2005 to honor our former LCBP staff member who previously served as a long time VT Legislative rep for Grand Isle County. She was known for her love of family, life in general, and her competitive spirit in fighting for Lake Champlain's future. She fought hard for the removal of the Sandbar Causeway power poles after they suffered storm damage - to enhance the entry view for the "Champlain Islands...the Beauty Spot of Vermont". She would have loved the pairing of lake discussions and desserts as she fondly remembered an elderly relative who always asked for a little "pieth of both" please...and we certainly embrace that concept here! Tell me please the name of this great lady!
Who is Jane Potvin?
200
Char Mehrtens, former Geology Chair at UVM, noted how the St. Lawrence River and Lake Champlain shared a geologic past and still remain linked together as evidenced by the skeletal remains of this large and amazing mammal.
What is the name of the geologic process that allowed this salt water animal (skeleton) to be found in a freshwater ecosystem years later.
What is glaciation or the formation of glaciers?
200
Don Lee, Lake Champlain Chapter of Trout Unlimited, and John Krueger, long time historian for all military battles on Lake Champlain, both reported to our Love the Lake audiences that this fish species, Atlantic salmon, populated this particular river so heavily in the 1800s that horses were afraid to cross it. Please share the name of the river with us.
What is the Saranac River?
200
Outreach staff from lake and river groups attempt to reach new audiences every year. The LCBP teams include the science team, the outreach team, and the cultural heritage team. Instead of working within silos we blend the information from our programs, encouraging new audiences to learn together resulting in rich dialogue about lake issues. For example, the portable Year of the Salmon exhibit moved to more than 30 locations over a two year period, including both cultural heritage and natural resource focused venues, combining the history of the fish species with how people were working the landscape and using the resources at the time. More recently we used the Artist-in-Residence program to extend lake information among art enthusiasts. Tell me what what topics were higlighted at the Love the Lake Program that was held in August 2023 at the Isle La Motte Preservation Trust Visitor Center at the Goodsell Ridge Preserve.
What is music combined with lake data?
200
Andy Sajor, sailor and earth science educator who taught in Peru, NY, shared amazing stories of winter life on the Lake. The boat pictured here was used on Lake Champlain during the winter months by crazy recreational users who like to travel fast. Remind me what type of boat he brought to our program that night.
What is an ice sailing boat or ice boat?
200
More than 20 river/lake groups, conservation districts, land trusts, and others throughout the watershed work with communities, youth, college students, farmers, and homeowners to implement projects designed to improve our land and water resources. Hopefully some of you have participated in these local activities. Please share 1-2 examples of community activities that benefit the watershed.
What is ...a river or beach clean up, Streamwise or Lakewise assessment, planting trees along streambanks, improving trails, pulling invasive species, helping kids learn to fish, talking with your friends and neighbors about lake issues, helping with a state park clean up, and more.
300
This species may be the fastest swimmer in Lake Champlain, fish excluded. It sometimes overwinters near the Missisquoi Bay bridge and loves its habitat in Vermont and Quebec. The VT F&W Nongame and Natural Heritage Program, ECHO at the Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, and the Granby Zoo all spotlight this creature to connect audiences to both the importance of protecting sensitive habitats and citizen engagement in conservation practices. Tell me the name of this species.
What is the spiny softshell turtle?
300
This "cute" little fish, a nonnative invasive species, is knocking on Lake Champlain's doorstep. It's following a navigation path from the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers to the Champlain Canal and eager to enter Lake Champlain. It also likes navigating northern reaches of the Richelieu River in Quebec which connects to Lake Champlain. Though it looks similar to the native sculpin there is a distinguishing characteristic that anglers and the public can use to differentiate the two species. Tell me what that is.
What is the suction cup pelvic fin on the bottom of the round goby?
300
Matt Vaughan, LCBP's chief scientist, reviewed key findings in our 2024 State of the Lake and Ecosystems Indicator Report. Matt noted the changing levels of this nutrient throughout all the Lake segments. After all the years that the NY, VT, and Quebec scientists have been monitoring the water quality of Lake Champlain, the Missisquoi Bay section of Lake Champlain FINALLY saw a slight decrease in this nutrient that feeds algae blooms. Name that nutrient that's found in our bodies, many human and animal foods, and the natural environment including soil.
What is phosphorus?
300
Chris Sabick and Art Cohn, the current and former directors of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, shared details about this vessel with our audience. It is a sister ship of the Philadelphia, which is now part of the permanent collection in the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC. Tell me the name of this vessel, where it is currently located, and how it is connected to Lake Champlain.
What is the Spitfire? The Spitfire is on the bottom of Lake Champlain. The Spitfire and the Philadelphia were vessels used by Benedict Arnold in the Battle of Valcour during the Revolutionary War.
300
The VT and NY US Congressional delegation, led by Senator Patrick Leahy, worked diligently over the past 35 years to pass legislation which led to financial support for projects that improve water quality and ecosystem health within the Lake Champlain watershed. The states and the province of Quebec, municipalities and nonprofits have worked together with LCBP, Lake Champlain Sea Grant, and our other partners across state and provincial boundaries to implement priority projects for both natural and cultural heritage programs. Please name two or more of the federal financial sources that support implementation of these projects.
What are the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, the National Park Service, NOAA, the US Dept of Agriculture, the International Joint Commission, US Fish and Wildlife Service, the US Army Corps, the US Geological Survey, and others.
400
Declan McCabe, St Michael's College, connected us with Life Under Water. He concentrated on creatures in rivers and the Lake which hide among rocks in ankle deep water. Though Colleen may like to annually drop some quarters in the slot machine in Montreal, this "wet coin" can help identify good water quality as it is pollution sensitive. 
What is a water penny?
400
Ellen Marsden, University of Vermont, once reported to us that this species spawns a few hundred yards west of here along the LCT ferry breakwater. During her 2024 Love the Lake Program, Ellen mentioned that something significant and exciting was happening with the native strain of this fish, which now impacts the stocking program. Tell me some details she described.
What is an increase in the natural native population of lake trout, resulting in a decreased need for stocked lake trout from the hatchery?
400
Thinking about outreach materials which you have perused here at the LCBP office, name the simple $0 cost technique (3 words) that homeowners and businesses can do to keep their lawns healthier, build a richer top layer of organic matter, and reduce rain and snow melt (and pollution) from reaching the lake or nearby streams.
What is Raise the Blade?
400
The schooner Lois McClure is a replica 1862 sailing canal boat...built between 2001-2004 by 4 professional boat builders and 200 volunteers. It took 20,000 hours of building time over 2.5 years to create the vessel modeled after two shipwrecks in Lake Champlain, the OJ Walker and the General Butler. The vessel traveled to New York City, Ontario, and Quebec City, and 315 other ports along 15 waterways. More than 312,000 people passed through the gate to learn about Lake Champlain's history with canal boats. The Lois McClure served as waterfront venue during Quebec's Quadricentennial celebration in 2008. Tell me three types of cargo these sailing canal boats transported during their historic era on Lake Champlain.
What are...(pick three... iron ore, grain, barley, sugar, timbers, glassware, coal, apples, and furniture)?
400
The LCBP education and outreach chapter of Opportunities for Action, our long term management plan identifies several different ways we incorporate lake learning for K-12 students. While LCBP and our educational partners including Shelburne Farms, Lake Champlain Sea Grant, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, the Community Sailing Center, ECHO, the Wild Center and Lake Champlain Committee strive to reach individual students and classrooms, there is another avenue for creating a multiplier effect for how many students can be reached in a year. Place based teacher training. This year alone, the Champlain Basin Education Initiative teacher cohort hosts 11 VT and NY educators. They currently teach a combined estimated 543 students. Over the next five years, tell me the approximate number of students who might be reached through these amazing teachers.
What are 1,629 students?
500
Tim Mihuc, SUNY Plattsburgh LCRI, once told us that this tiny, nonnative, invasive creature would wreak havoc on anglers' fishing lines and impact the food web of Lake Champlain. While drawing water quality samples aboard the SUNY research vessel, Tim was the first person to identify this creature's infestation in Lake Champlain. Give me your best guess!
What is a spiny water flea?
500
Kevin Kelsey, VT Fish and Wildlife, recently described the techniques with which he and his team have experimented to increase the success rate of the Lake Champlain walleye stocking program. This program, operating just up the hill at the Ed Weed Fish Culture Station, is one of the best walleye stocking programs in the United States. Tell me which volunteer organization has been a key partner with the VT Fish and Wildlife Department to make this stocking program a success.
What is the Lake Champlain Walleye Association?
500
Meg Modley, LCBP's Aquatic Invasive Species queen and her able colleague Lauren Jenness have trained Lake Champlain boat launch stewards for many years. From 2021-2023, the stewards surveyed 69,952 watercraft helping owners to identify and remove aquatic invasive species. If Meg and Lauren could develop a three word chant to lead a LAKE rally...tell me what the three words would be.
What is CLEAN DRAIN DRY?
500
This woman is a treasure to the North Country and the Clinton County Historical Association. She has served as director for many years, helping to advise a large, dedicated crew of creative volunteers. Examples of their collective projects include the Valcour Island Trail Guide, the docent interpretation program at the Valcour Island Lighthouse, an amazing re-enactment of the Champlain Valley Suffrage Centennial Auto Tour, and digitizing thousands of historical photographs in the CCHA collection so that they are accessible to all. Tell me who she is.
Who is Helen Nerska?
500
Please, tell me, what is the only comment/question that makes Colleen bite her tongue when someone says this during a heated public meeting about Lake Champlain's health or future.
What is...how come nobody is doing anything for this Lake?