National Citizen Science Day on April 16th kicked off a month of events celebrating citizen science around the country. The Lakes and Ponds Program gets a huge helping hand with data collected by you, our resident citizen scientists. You’ve provided data through
- the Lay Monitoring Program (started in 1970)
- has provided phosphorus, chlorophyll and secchi data from more than 90 inland lakes and 30 sites on Lake Champlain
- the Public Access Greeter Program (started in 2002)
- currently 24 locally-run programs and 7 State Parks covering 32 launches on 26 lakes and ponds
- In 2014, greeters intercepted and removed 361 invasive species specimens from boats about to enter their lakes.
- the Vermont Invasive Watch Program, now known as the Vermont Invasive Patrollers (started in 1987)
- in 2015, a patroller on Lake Memphremagog found the first Vermont population of starry stonewort
- the Champlain Cyanobacteria Monitoring Program (started in 2003)
- volunteers coordinated by the Lake Champlain Committee have been collecting water samples and providing reports each summer on Lake Champlain
- in 2015, three lake associations began reporting cyanobacteria conditions for the program
- Lake Carmi Campers Association
- Lake Iroquois Association
- Memphremagog Watershed Association
- LakeWise and the LakeWise Leaders Program got underway in 2014
- LakeWise leaders assist residents find ways to manage property along the lake shore that are good for the lake, its wild residents and its human caretakers
Richard Harter takes a secchi reading for the Lay Monitoring Program
We can’t say THANK YOU!!! enough for all the data and assistance you’ve provided over the years. Looking forward to working with all of you in the future!
