Protecting Land to Combat Climate Change
In the face of our ongoing and urgent climate crisis, the Lake Champlain Land Trust is steadfastly focused on maximizing our impact by conserving forests, stewarding and restoring our protected areas, and planting carbon-capturing trees. The vast majority of the 15,200 acres we have protected together over the last 45 years are forested.
The trees inhabiting these forests take carbon dioxide from the air and store it as biomass (a tree’s living matter), reducing the rate at which this climate-changing gas accumulates in the atmosphere. When we protect forests, we’re also mitigating the effects of climate change. Shade from tree cover helps reduce surface temperatures as well as cool stream and river water.
Most of our natural areas also rank high on climate resiliency models produced by climate scientists and experts. The typical hilly topography of our projects allows plants and animals to adapt and migrate within the same protected refuge.
The Climate Change—Water Quality Connection
Scientists working in the Champlain Basin have confirmed that more intense rainstorms linked to climate change are causing more phosphorus to enter the Lake. This means that efforts to reduce nutrient loading through better land management and stormwater investments are even more urgent.
Fortunately, wetlands and floodplain forests can absorb and capture nutrients released during floods. This makes our work conserving and restoring these wetlands even more important.
Natural Climate Solutions
We are also planting trees to combat and mitigate the effects of climate change. Thanks to our dedicated members and volunteers, over the past five years we have planted more than 2,000 native trees and shrubs. Mature trees have been found to be capable of absorbing over 48 pounds of carbon dioxide each year.
The trees we plant along Lake Champlain’s tributaries also capture and soak up floodwaters that spill over riverbanks, helping to reduce the impact from increasingly frequent and severe flood events related to climate change.
Our actions today can have a positive and lasting impact. Want to help us combat climate change? Make a secure donation now!
