Regatta for Lake Champlain 2010

Thanks to Jamie Leopold of Able Advertising for organizing another great Regatta for Lake Champlain and including the Lake Champlain Land Trust.

Special thanks to all our partners and friends: Candis Leopold, Nicole Ballinger, Doug Lang, Tom Glynn, Julie Silverman, Kate Villa, Sherm White, Mark and Lynn Gardner, Kate Neubauer, Fritz Horton, and many others!

For more information about the Regatta and how you can enter your sailboat next year (or be a guest crew member!), visit the website: www.regattaforlakechamplain.org

Ancient Oak, Vast Wetlands, and the "Lantern" Tree!

Pictures from our June 25, 2010 event

Members and friends traveled from all over Vermont to explore the Round Pond Natural Area from the Apple Island Resort side of this vast wetland area bordering Lake Champlain.   Our thanks to our co-hosts from the South Hero Land Trust and the Apple Island Resort.  We've included some pictures from our trip!

American Bladdernut (Staphylea trifolia)

-- the air-filled "lanterns", or seedpods, follow the flowering stage and ripen in the fall.

Special thanks to our 2010 Event Series Sponsor:

And to our Round Pond Hike Sponsor:

Take a naturalist along for your next hike: New podbean site launched!

Always wanted a naturalist along with you on a hike?  Next time you plan a trip to Eagle Mountain in Milton, Vermont, download this podcast on your iPod or smartphone to take with you!  Eagle Mountain Natural Area, an ecologically rich property with fields and forest leading to stunning lake views, is one of more than fifty sites conserved by the Lake Champlain Land Trust.  This recording provides an educational narrative as the listener walks along the easy trail towards Hoyt Overlook.  Learn the differences between trees along the trail and how to interpret the natural history of the landscape! 

Visit our new Podbean site to download the podcast!

Eagle Mountain Natural Area is free to visit year-round!  See our Contribute page for more information on becoming a member of the Lake Champlain Land Trust and the Maps and Guides section for directions to Eagle Mountain.

Podcast written and narrated by the Lake Champlain Land Trust.  Special thanks to Matt Dugan and Alex Ball of Shadow Productions (www.shadowprod.com) and Trey Anastasio and Who Is She? Music, Inc. (BMI) for generously donating their talents.

Birding at Eagle Mountain

On a June 11, 2010, Eagle Mountain hike, we spotted a wide range of bird species, including scarlet tanagers, indigo buntings, and bobolinks!  The mixture of wetlands, hayfields, and forest at Eagle Mountain provides ideal habitat for some of our most cherished and beautiful summer visitors.  Our list also includes:

• Black-throated Green Warbler
• Broad-winged Hawk
• Common Yellowthroat
• American Goldfinch
• Hairy Woodpecker
• Cedar Waxwing
• Rose-breasted Grosbeak
• Ovenbird
• Veery
• Bluejay
• Red-winged Blackbird
• Robin
• Chickadee

Check out Eagle Mountain maps under "Maps and Guides" for more information and directions to this beautiful conserved natural area that has stunning lake views, easy trails, and many beautiful songbirds!  If you do visit Eagle Mountain, we'd love if you reported your sightings back to us so we can add to our list.  Happy birding!

Saving the Lake Champlain Sandplain Forest

The Lake Champlain Land Trust recently saved one of the most important natural areas in Vermont-a 78-acre forested block containing five significant natural communities located in Colchester, Vermont.

The most notable, and one of the Vermont's most threatened natural communities, is the Pine-Oak-Heath Sandplain Forest. This outstanding section of Sandplain Forest covers approximately 25 acres. The preservation of this important property was made possible by the landowner, Dr. Phillip Howard, who generously donated a conservation easement on the land he has owned and stewarded so carefully over the last 40 years.

Mill River Falls Natural Area Improvements!

If you haven't visited Mill River recently, now is a great time to go. Many improvements have been made to the natural area in the past year and a half, making it more accessible and user friendly.

In the fall of 2008 a small four car parking lot was constructed by the Town of Georgia to limit roadside parking and address associated safety concerns. The following spring, as Mill River was running strong with melt waters,the Lake Champlain Land Trust met Gary Sawyer from the Vermont Forests, Parks, and Recreation and Ken Minck of the Georgia Conservation Commission in the field to plan a new pedestrian trail that would take visitors directly to the falls from the parking lot. Since then a new trail has been cut and herd paths have been brushed in creating better access to the falls while minimizing disturbance on the forest and riverbanks.

 Bald Mountain Nature Preserve Protected!

Earlier this year the Lake Champlain Land Trust accepted a donated Forever Wild Conservation Easement on 1,369 acres in West Haven, Vermont.  The conservation easement includes nearly 3,500 feet of Lake Champlain shoreline along an area referred to as the "Drowned Lands"- an area ideal for canoeing, kayaking, and fishing.

The Bald Mountain Nature Preserve is one of the most important terrestrial biodiversity sites along Lake Champlain...