Experience the Magic of Vermont Lakes

Experience the Magic of Vermont Lakes
July is Lakes Appreciation Month

Vermont is home to over 800 lakes and ponds – unique, beautiful, and scenic. The Governor has declared July Lakes Appreciation Month, so we wanted to highlight some of the weird, wonderful – and yes, magical things you may not be aware of that are going on just under the surface of these amazing waterbodies.

Here are members of the Federation of Vermont Lakes and Ponds board talking about a few of the many fascinating organisms you can see in Vermont lakes.

Jeri Bergdahl: Imagine a lazy summer day floating in a kayak and gazing down to see bight green, alien-looking fingers appearing below. You are seeing one of the many remarkable animals that make their home in pristine Vermont waters, a fresh-water sponge, Spongilla lacustris, from the oldest known animal phylum which has existed for 600 million years.

Sponges are microscopic, colonial animals, which means the fingers we see are actually thousands of animals gathered together and attached to something, for example a twig, making them immobile. Although only twenty species are found in North America, 240 species are known worldwide. As Kermit says, “it’s not easy being green”, but this animal is green by allowing green algae to live directly inside its cells forming a mutualistic relationship with algae.  Sponges play an important role by filtering thousands of gallons of water over a season removing bacteria, algae, and organic materials. They have survived for millennia but need pristine water and healthy ecosystems to continue to survive into the future.

Insects and small water creatures beware – there may be bladderworts lurking! Did you know that the native Bladderwort, Utricularia, a free-floating plant without roots, is carnivorous! It can be found in lakes, ponds, and bog pools around the state. This plant captures and digests tiny aquatic insects and other animals by means of small bladder-like traps. Imagine the following drama. First the plant sets the trap by pumping water out of bladders, creating a partial vacuum, and waits. When prey brush against trigger hairs connected to an inward-opening trapdoor, the prey is sucked into the bladder. The next time you visit a lake peer below the surface for the wonder that exists there.

Jerremy Jones: Anyone who has ever visited Lake St. Catherine would certainly agree that it’s a magical place. Many of the amazing things you can experience here are apparent when you visit the State Park, or when you take a boat ride across the lake: experiencing the sheer beauty of the lake itself, seeing the abundant wildlife like our nesting eagles and loons with their new offspring, or just that feeling you get when you visit the lake while making life-long memories with your friends and family.

But, some equally amazing things are happening under the surface. One I’d like to highlight is the native freshwater mussel, the Eastern Elliptio. This mussel is abundant  n Lake St. Catherine as evidenced by the numerous discarded shells left by muskrats you’ll see along the shoreline.

The Eastern Elliptio needs relatively clean water to survive, so its presence is a good indicator of environmental health. Some other incredible characteristics of the Eastern Elliptio: an adult mussel can filter and clean about 10 gallons of water each day, it has an important role in filtering water and nutrient cycling and therefore water quality,  and because of its abundance and important role as both prey and water filtration, it is among the most valuable lake bottom organisms to local aquatic ecosystems.

Finally, as I learned during Vermont Fish and Wildlife Zoologist Mark Ferguson’s excellent presentation at FOVLAP’s 2026 Lake Seminar in June, freshwater mussels, including the Eastern Elliptio, reproduce by their larvae (glochidia) attaching to the gills of fish, maturing to juvenile mussels the size of a grain of sand

while they ride around on the fish, and then releasing off of the fish into the lakebed to grow into an adult mussel. Amazing! We are lucky to have this mussel supporting the ecosystem of the lake.

Our lakes and ponds are very special places, and we need to work to protect them. All of these organisms and the many other plants and animals that make up the fascinating underwater world of our lakes and ponds need us to protect them by keeping the water clean. Please consider supporting your volunteer lake associations, watershed groups.

…and the next time you visit one of our beautiful lakes and ponds, slow down, take a breath, grab a pair of goggles, and spend a few moments experiencing the amazing and truly magical world just under the surface.

Jeri Bergdahl, who lives in Charlotte, is a member of the Federation of Vermont Lakes and Ponds Board. Jerremy Jones is Vice-President of the Federation of Vermont Lakes and Ponds and lives in Poultney.