For the preservation, protection, and maintenance of Lake St. Catherine
Hello LSC.
It was a great day on the water with Vermont Center for Ecostudies (VCE) loon biologist Eric Hanson!
Last spring, Channel resident Dawn Smith-Pliner observed and recorded loons appearing to perform nesting activities. Eric confirmed this was the case, and came down to Lake St. Catherine with 'Loon Nesting Area' signs. But, after visiting the site, he could tell that they would not be successful in building a nest - so we did not place the signs at that time.
However, because of this activity, Eric believes that these loons are now a 'Territorial Pair', and will return this spring, to the same spot, to attempt to nest again.
Today, Eric came down to Lake St. Catherine to build and place a nesting platform for these loons in the area they attempted to nest last year.
After meeting Eric at the boat launch, we loaded up his canoe with all the supplies, and paddled over to Dawn & Joel's dock which we used as a staging area. THANK YOU to Dawn and Joel!
As we were getting ready, we met Linda Paquette, and she took this photo of us right before we headed out:
Thanks for the photo Linda!
After arriving at the dock, we unloaded and started building the platform:
Next, a mesh flooring is placed and secured on top of the timbers:
Then, the platform is placed into the water, and floats are added in the cavity to create additional buoyancy for the organic matter used to create the nesting area:
Here is the completed platform:
The shrubs are placed on the side that will face the open water to provide some cover for the loons, and a nesting bowl was set up in the middle of the platform. You'll notice that some open areas were left in the 2 front corners which allows some space for the loons to hop up onto the platform.
Finally, we loaded the attached cinder blocks into the canoe and paddled over to the place where the loons attempted to nest last year, and got it in place:
Eric said that loons should be arriving soon to Lake St. Catherine, and we're hopeful that they will find the nest.
Eric explained that just because we have provided a great place for the loons to nest does not mean that they will use it, and it may take a few years - but we can still be hopeful!
If we do observe loon activity, we'll then place loon nesting signs to give them the space they need to be successful. Please do what you can to avoid going close to, or lingering near the platform. Let's all do everything we can to give them the best shot possible.
Here's our goal:
Photo: From VCE website, by Jeff Nadler
After arriving back to at boat launch, we checked the collection tube that we installed last year as part of the VCE program to ask anglers to check their tackle boxes for old lead tackle and fishing line - which are deadly to loons. You can read more about that program here. As you can see, there was a good amount of lead and line that was added to the tube, which Eric took to be properly destroyed:
We'd like to once again thank Eric for his fantastic work, and Dawn & Joel for the use of their property to make this happen.
One final note: Eric's work is funded by grants and donations. If you'd like to support Eric and his work for loons with VCE, please consider making a donation to them, which you can do here. There's a spot on the form where you can type in that your donation is in support of Eric's work at Lake St. Catherine.
We'll keep you up-to-date throughout the season - keep those fingers crossed!
Thank you.
Hello LSC, and residents of Wells & Poultney,
Saturday, May 4th is Green Up Vermont Day.
Green Up Vermont is a state-wide volunteer cleanup day of Vermont's roads and waterways.
As Green Up Vermont's website says:
"We know it isn’t your litter but Vermont needs our help to be beautiful!"
We had a FANTASTIC turnout last year, with volunteers signing up to cover just about every road around the lake, and additional roads in Wells & Poultney - and we're looking to do it again this year. You can check out a quick recap, and see lots of photos from our volunteers of our 2023 Green UP Vermont Day here.
Would you like to volunteer for Green Up Vermont Day?
If so, email us at info@lakestcatherine.org, or contact us on Facebook, and let us know the roads (or sections of roads) you'd like to work on, and we'll add you to our volunteer map:
Roads highlighted in blue on the map indicate that the road (or section of road) is being covered by a volunteer. We'll do our best to coordinate the efforts so we all know what areas are covered, and which areas need volunteers.
Also, as we did last year, in coordination with the Town of Wells, we will be hosting a brief kickoff to the day at the Wells Lakeside Park on Little Lake at 8 AM that morning. Please stop in to pick up Green Up bags, fuel up on coffee and muffins from the Wells Country Store to get energized for the day, and meet your fellow volunteers! Please let us know if you'll be joining us so we can get a count.
So, let us know if you'd like to participate and where you'll do your clean up, and we'll add your area to the map. We'll keep the map up-to-date here, and on our website Calendar, on the May 6th Green Up Vermont Day event. You can view that here: 2024 Green Up Vermont Day Event.
Let's all pitch in to get Lake St. Catherine, and Wells & Poultney ready for a great Summer!
Hi LSC.
The Wells Village Library and the Lake St. Catherine Association have received a grant from the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP) to support the Libraries Love Lakes Program.
For 2024, this program will provide funding for four fun and educational events (the first of which was the Giant Map experience last weekend), additional lake themed materials for the section of the library called the “Lake St. Catherine Collection,” a watershed model of our lake, and the creation of a lake mascot to enrich educational programming.
So, we are seeking your input for a Lake St. Catherine Mascot!
When thinking of Lake St. Catherine, what do you think would make a good mascot to represent the lake? An eagle, a fish, a loon, a turtle, a plant, a muskrat...? There are SO MANY things to choose from!
We've set up a survey for the lake community so you can contribute your ideas:
Lake St. Catherine Mascot Survey
Ideas will be collected and reviewed before work begins, and you'll also be able to indicate on the survey if you'd like to assist us with the creation of the mascot.
Libraries Love Lakes is an outreach project which pairs school and public libraries with lake scientists to provide collaborative programming emphasizing the importance of lakes in our everyday lives.
Three more seasonally themed future events are being planned for the spring, winter, and fall. Our next event is being planned for May and will have a focus on migratory birds. We hope to have information on this upcoming event soon!
We have some exciting news to share with you this evening.
The LSCA will be working with loon biologist Eric Hanson from the Vermont Center for Ecostudies to place a loon nesting platform in the Channel - tentatively scheduled for Sunday, April 7th, beginning at 9 AM.
So, Eric is planning to be here at 9 AM on Sunday, April 7th, and we'll work to build and place the nesting platform for the loons at their selected spot in the Channel. Our hope is that they will discover it, and use it to make their nest. The platform will look similar to this:
Loon Nesting Platform - Photo: Vermont Center for Ecostudies
We hope these efforts will lead to scenes like this on LSC:
Common loon and baby - Photo: Jeff Nadler, from VCE's website
We may need some extra hands, so we are putting a call out for volunteers. We may also need a boat (to be determined) which might get a little dirty from transporting materials for the platform. If you would like to help out, please let us know by emailing us at info@lakestcatherine.org.
We'll keep the lake community informed about this exciting project as it progresses!
Hello LSC, here is an article from the Boston Globe: Are record ice-outs an alarm? ‘Our concern is for our Earth.’
It talks about lakes in Vermont and New Hampshire that experienced their record earliest ice outs in 2024, and the impact that has on the ecosystem of the lake.
Based on our records, our March 7th ice out is the earliest, going back to our records which started in 1933. The previous earliest was in 2012 on March 13th. The shortest amount of ice coverage was in 2010 when the ice didn't set until Feb, and went out on Mar 20th.
In the article Mark Mitchell, a freshwater scientist and partner for the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation and the University of Vermont Lake Champlain Sea Grant, who we work with on the Lay Monitoring Program for LSC, talks about how early melts and warmer water mean a longer period for plant growth and the proliferation of invasive species (like milfoil) and cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) blooms.
To read more on this topic:
> In 2022, Mark wrote about this topic for the Spring 2022 edition of the Federation of Vermont Lakes and Ponds Newsletter in this article: Lake Ice-Out and Ice-In in Vermont.
He goes into more detail, and it also includes a chart of LSC's ice out going back to 1933.
> This weekend at the Giant Map event in Wells, educator Meghan Hill from the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum gave attendees this presentation: Climate Change and our Lakes.
Thanks to everyone who dug out from the 18" of snow from Saturday, and joined us, the Wells Village Library, and the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum (LCMM) for the Lake Champlain Watershed Giant Map experience in Wells this afternoon.
Educator Meghan Hill from the LCMM spoke with visitors about numerous topics as they explored this accurate and detailed 35’ x 27’ giant map:
Kids participated in a scavenger hunt to find things on the map, and learn along the way:
Meghan also gave a presentation "Climate Change and Our Lakes":
View Meghan's presentation here.
...and she also demonstrated the impacts of stormwater runoff using a watershed model:
We hope all of our attendees today enjoyed the event!
Libraries Love Lakes is an outreach project which pairs school and public libraries with lake scientists to provide collaborative programming emphasizing the importance of lakes in our everyday lives. This will be the first event of four that are planned for the Libraries Love Lakes Program for 2024. Three more seasonally themed future events are being planned for the spring, winter, and fall.
The next event for Spring will be in May, and will focus on migratory birds. We'll let you know when this event is scheduled - and we hope you'll join us!
This and future Libraries Love Lakes events are made possible by a grant from the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP) and NEIWPCC.
The LSCA and Wells Village Library would like to the thank Meghan and the LCMM for this event, and The Modern Woodmen of America for the use of their building.
The Wells Village Library and the Lake St. Catherine Association are excited to host the Giant Lake Champlain Watershed Map experience at the Modern Woodmen of America Hall, 133 Main State Route in Wells, on Sunday, March 24th from 11-2 PM.
Educator Meghan Hill from the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum (LCMM) will be on hand with the Giant Map, and a working watershed model to discuss the Lake Champlain Basin: history, water quality, geography, science, and much more. Lake St. Catherine is in the Lake Champlain Basin, and is included on this accurate and detailed 35’ x 27’ giant map. You can learn more about the Giant Map on the LCMM website: www.lcmm.org/giantmap/.
Meghan will also be giving a presentation at 1 PM to discuss the impacts of climate change contributing to our recent mild winters, and the issues that are caused because of it. Families are invited to arrive at any time between 11-2 PM to interact with the Giant Map. The first 20 families to arrive will receive an event themed kit of on-topic books and activities.
We hope to see you there!
Check out this video of the Giant Map:
Good morning LSC. The 2024 Ice Out Champion is: John Sargent with his guess of 3/7/2024 at 12 PM - congrats John! While there are still some small patches of ice around, we simplified the call this year by noting on the guessing form that we'd call it when there was open water in the middle of the Big Lake, ie. if you could drive a boat from the western shore to Cones Point. Just a few hours after this photo was taken yesterday morning, the wind came in and took care of the ice. So... who's putting their docks & boat in this weekend? If you are at the lake, post the photos of your view! Thanks to everyone who made a prediction, we had well over 100 guesses.
On Tuesday, March 5th, 2024, the residents of Wells and Poultney voted to provide $12,000 and $15,000, respectively, in support of the Lake St. Catherine Association's mission of the preservation, protection and maintenance of Lake St. Catherine.
We'd like to thank the good folks of both towns for their continued support!
These funds help us manage and fund important programs that include (but are not limited to): aquatic invasive species (AIS) prevention and control: our boat launch Greeter Program, VIP Program, Milfoil Control Program, and water quality improvement programs: Lake Wise, LSC Stormwater Master Plan, Lake St. Catherine Watershed Action Plan.
You can read more about our efforts for the benefit of Lake St. Catherine here in our 2023 Year In Review on our website:
• Part 1
• Part 2
Grants, membership dues and contributions from the lake community, and allocations from our Towns make up the majority of our funding. If you'd like to help, please consider becoming a member or making a donation. The LSCA is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization.
Thanks again to the residents of Wells and Poultney!
Hello LSC!
Are you ready for Spring - and getting excited for another fantastic season at Lake St. Catherine this year?
Let's have a little fun and make some predictions for when the ice will go out.
We unfortunately did not have much time with ice cover on the lake again this winter, a concerning trend over the past few winters... Little Lake and Lily Pond have already opened up, but the Big Lake is still ice covered.
Please fill out this form to make your guess.
Note: Since the ice is good at hanging around in some of the bays for quite a while, to simplify things this year, we'll use open water in the middle of the Big Lake to make the call on the date & time for ice out. Let's say if you could drive a boat from the western shore to Cones Point.
The winner will be crowned "LSC 2024 Ice Out Champion" and will have bragging rights all year!
Will your name be added to this list of previous Ice Out Champions?
- In 2023, with his guess of April 9th at 12:43 PM, the 2023 Champ was Tim Olivieri.
- In 2022, with her guess of April 4th at 11:03 AM, the 2022 Champ was Mary-Sue Reed.
- In 2021, with his guess of April 2nd at 2:30 AM, the 2021 Champ was Walter Huss.
- In 2020, with his guess of March 23rd at 3 PM, the 2020 Champ was Melvin Ohl.
- In 2019, with her guess of April 15th at 6 AM, the 2019 Champ was Judy Cummings.
Make your guess - and good luck!
2024 LSCA Membership Drive
As the LSCA heads into our 71st year, we hope to earn your support for 2024. Our Membership Drive is underway, and we have membership levels for property owners, businesses, family members of property owners, renters and those who use the lake for recreation - anyone who loves LSC can become a member.
Thank you for your support of the LSCA!
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