Vermont, March 01, 2013.  Once you take the time to wonder what creatures are doing, you wonder why they are doing it.  While refilling the hummingbird feeder that hung on an apple tree in the backyard, the unusual number of ants clearly following a path as they walked up and down the tree trunk was [...]

Vermont, February 01, 2013. Many areas in this country have icon species that add to their sense of place. The Texas Gulf Coast is busy working to restore the iconic Kemp’s ridley sea turtle and we, for all the hemming and hawing over the salmon restoration program, have the American shad (Alosa sapidissima ) again [...]

Vermont, January 01, 2013. Most North Country residents in the Connecticut River valley know that up until 1791 Vermont was an independent republic after breaking away from New York and New Hampshire. Many know of the VT and NH towns in the Upper Valley attempt to create a separate state of New Connecticut. In addition, [...]

Vermont, December 2012.  In the Connecticut River watershed, if you drive on a roadway you have seen a crow eating carrion. What you are seeing is the modern American crow, scientific name Corvus brachyrhynchos, the “short-billed crow” descended from 20 million year old ancestors. The American crow is one of four species of crow in [...]

Vermont, November 1, 2012. Most waterbodies marking a boundary between two states or countries have an imaginary dotted line running down their middle. The Connecticut River does not because as everyone ‘knows’ the river belongs to New Hampshire. However, as with all things human, the real circumstances are more complicated.  The reality about river ownership [...]

Vermont.  October 1, 2012.  Sometimes others perception of one’s occupation belie your spirit. One would not expect your stereotypical accountant to be the adventurous type. However, here in the Connecticut River valley, one adventurous accountant belies the stereotype. In one of her many scuba diving excursions into the Connecticut River she came up with pictures [...]

Last year on August 28th, Irene blew through Vermont and wreaked havoc in the Connecticut River and Lake Champlain watersheds. The amounts of rain varied but many locations had extended downpours that dropped over 7 inches of rain. Rivers responded to that level of precipitation by increased flow and power that destroyed property and infrastructure [...]

Vermont.  August 2012.  Refraction, ionization, evaporation, condensation, convection, static electricity and the rotation of the earth are some of the natural processes that create many wondrous events visible in our sky.  It is hard to think about all those things when it is raining cats and dogs and there is lightening crashing around you.  There [...]

Putney, Vermont.  July 1, 2012.  We place a genuine and personal value on clean water, but that does not compute easily to a dollar value. Yet in the wider world, economic values drive decisions about our waters more so than do personal feelings. In our recent history, our operating theory about waste was “the solution [...]

Vermont.  June 01, 2012.  As we begin the outdoor water season the Connecticut River Watershed Council is asking all of us to help protect the Connecticut River from invasions of exotic plants and animals.  Power boaters, canoers, tubers, sail enthusiasts and even river walking flyfishers can spread aquatic plants and animals. So we all need [...]

Vermont.  May, 2012.  Experienced river users often refer to rivers, streams and lakes as being part of a watershed.  We use the word because we are familiar with the notion that all surface water is connected to itself and some larger watery ecosystem. The classic definition of a watershed is: “The land area that drains [...]

Putney, Vermont.  March 1, 2012.  Even as we delight in watching water dance across the riffles in a river, we fear floodwaters sweeping all before them.  We treasure a summer afternoon at a lake or seashore, splashing, boating, fishing or swimming but our need for clean water goes far beyond fear or pleasure. Despite all [...]

January 2, 2012.  Vermont.   This year there has been an increased amount of discussion about the Atlantic salmon restoration program. The discussions have focused almost solely on the mistaken notion that low numbers of salmon returns are the only test of the success or failure of the Connecticut River Atlantic Salmon Restoration Program. As background [...]

Vermont. November 1, 2011. Sometimes nature just flies up and gets your attention. The wasp that flew up that day started sticking small round pieces of mud to the wall and then flew off. After a while it was clear that the wasp was building a nest of mud tubes on the outside wall of [...]

Vermont. October 1, 2011. The unrelenting precipitation from Irene caused rivers to rise and as flows increased the rivers turned brown, jumped their banks and where they could flowed into their floodplains and unfortunately into homes, businesses, farm fields and forests. They eroded our roads and sweep away bridges. The widespread devastation was stunning and [...]

Vermont, September 1, 2011. Irene was in a bad mood when she deluged her way into the Connecticut River watershed. Based on information sources tracking river flows, the Saxtons River that went two feet above its all-time record flow and the main Connecticut River that witnessed flows rivaling the legendary 1927 flood are just two [...]

Vermont.  August 1, 2011. Loch Ness has her Nessie, Lake Champlain has her Champ, Lake Mephremegog has her Memphre and the Connecticut River, well the sting of it is that she has her monster it just has not been named yet. The Connecticut River does have a monster or monsters, that is, if you can [...]

Vermont. July 1, 2011. Any evening as we come to dusk and there are insects hatching out of the water, flying in the air over the water and landing ever so briefly on the water, delicately laying eggs, you are likely to find at least two other species sharing the same river reach, flyfishers and [...]

Vermont. June 1, 2011. When you hear the word exotic you think of faraway places, different cultures, unusual food unless of course you are considering exotic flora or fauna then from an ecological point of view, exotic has a decidedly negative connotation. The way exotics get from one place to another is by a vector, [...]

Vermont.  May 1, 2011. When the raccoon showed up in the mid afternoon and did not seem to object to loud clapping to shoo it away the very first thought was rabid animal. Rabies caused by the virus Rhabdoviridae lyssavirus is one of the oldest and most feared human diseases, rightfully so because rabies is [...]