History, Natural History & the Arts
Champlain Area Trails (CATS) has announced the CATS Northern Pathways Challenge, a new patch challenge. This challenge begins on National Trails Day, Saturday, June 5th, and ends December 31st.
The Northern Pathways Challenge celebrates trails in Clinton County, the northern part of the Champlain Valley. It goes along with the first Northern Champlain Valley Trail Map that CATS recently published. [Read more…] about Clinton County ‘Northern Pathways Challenge’ Launched
Citing opposition from environmental groups and the public, Lake Champlain Transportation Company and Vermont Division for Historic Preservation have announced the withdrawal of its application for a permit to sink the Adirondack, a retired ferry, in Lake Champlain. Instead of being abandoned underwater to create artificial interest for scuba divers, the vessel will be scrapped. [Read more…] about Champlain Ferry ‘Adirondack’ Sinking Plan Stopped by Opposition
This week on The Historians Podcast, Jack Kelly discusses his new book Valcour: The 1776 Campaign That Saved the Cause of Liberty (St. Martins Press, 2021). Rebel forces were led by Benedict Arnold in this key naval battle with Great Britain around Valcour Island on Lake Champlain in Northern New York. [Read more…] about Jack Kelly Talks About His New Book On Battle of Valcour Island
On May 7th, 2021, at approximately 2:20 pm, State Police responded to the Willsboro Bay state boat launch for an overturned kayak. An investigation at the scene revealed that 28-year-old Patrick S. Wells, and his son, 3-year-old Beckett L. Wells, both of Willsboro, were kayaking in a single-person kayak when, for an unknown reason, they overturned into the cold waters of Lake Champlain. [Read more…] about Father & Three-Year-Old Son Drown Cold Water Kayaking
The Adirondack Watershed Institute (AWI) is seeking to fill eight remaining Decontamination Technician positions at boat launches on Lake Champlain for summer 2021. [Read more…] about Summer Job Opportunities on Lake Champlain
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is deploying two new pen-rearing projects for Atlantic salmon to begin this spring. In an effort to improve post-stocking survival and imprinting to the stocked water, experimental Atlantic salmon pen-rearing projects will be conducted in the Saranac River estuary in Lake Champlain and in the Salmon River in Lake Ontario. [Read more…] about Salmon Net Pen-Rearing Projects set for Lake Champlain, Ontario
The summer of 1776 was among the most perilous periods of the Revolutionary War, and almost all the action took place in New York. The young nation tottered on the edge of destruction that summer.
With an army of 20,000 men, George Washington could not hold New York City against an enemy force twice as large. The British drove him out of the city and across New Jersey into Pennsylvania. By December, he had 3,000 men left and was admitting to his brother, “I think the game is pretty near up.” [Read more…] about Valcour Island: Keeping The Cause of Liberty Alive
In light of increased wild production, the Lake Champlain Fish and Wildlife Management Cooperative (NY, VT, USFWS) is reducing lake trout stocking by 33 percent (~27,060 fish).
This decision is based on data that indicates increased catches of wild lake trout in annual standardized nettings used to monitor the contribution of wild vs. stocked fish to the lake trout population. [Read more…] about Champlain Lake Trout Stocking Cut By A Third
The Open Space Institute (OSI) has announced the acquisition of a property in the Town of Chesterfield that protects local water quality and furthers regional connectivity of protected land.
Located near Keeseville, just north of Willsboro Bay on Lake Champlain, the property will also open additional land for recreation and provide users with scenic views of the lake. [Read more…] about Overlooking Champlain: More of Trembleau Mountain Protected
Lake Champlain froze completely on January 8th, 1887, missing by just two days the seventy-year record for earliest freeze.
“Saturday morning (January 8th) was the coldest of the season, the mercury registering 26 below zero – in the shade,” The Granville Sentinel reported on January 14th. [Read more…] about The Joys of a January Freeze, 1887