Lake Champlain Sea Grant Announces Spring 2025 Research Webinars
Lake Champlain Sea Grant is pleased to announce our Spring 2025 Research Webinar Series. This series of four webinars will be held virtually on Zoom, with approximately 30 minutes of presentation followed by 30 minutes of questions. Each presentation will be recorded and made available on our website after the event, as well as emailed to registrants. Advance registration is required; please visit the links below to register or register for them all on our events page.
January 29, 2025, 12–1pm: The Recreational Ice Fishing and Ancillary Retail Community on Lake Champlain
In the first webinar of the Spring 2025 series, Mark Malchoff from Lake Champlain Sea Grant (retired) and Nicole Balk from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation will discuss Lake Champlain winter angler demographics, preferences, and behaviors.
A variety of anglers use ice to access a fishery jointly managed by Vermont, New York, and Quebec. State fishery agencies collect creel census data (e.g., preferred target species, catch rates) to guide management actions. However, socio-economic data—such as anglers’ attitudes and opinions—used to characterize the human dimensions of these fisheries are often lacking. This webinar will review findings from multiple surveys about Lake Champlain’s winter anglers and their interactions with the natural and economic resources in the Lake Champlain Basin.
February 26, 2025, 12–1pm: Understanding How Flood Information is Communicated in Rutland County, VT
In this webinar, Dr. Anne Jefferson, Dr. Elizabeth Doran, and Dr. Lakelyn Taylor from the University of Vermont will provide an overview of their NOAA-funded, Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology (CIROH) project analyzing flood communication in local communities.
Focusing specifically on Rutland County, VT, the researchers will share a community network diagram they created based on the interviews and focus groups conducted in Rutland County. The talk will also explore message-related content such as recommended actions, when messages were received/shared, and barriers to receiving/sharing flood messages. The aim of this webinar is to demonstrate how flood information is communicated in a smaller, local community.
March 26, 2025, 12–1pm: Mercury Bioaccumulation in the Deep and Shallow Basins of Lake Champlain
In the third spring research webinar, Dr. Vivien Taylor from Dartmouth College will present her Lake Champlain Basin Program funded research findings on mercury concentrations in Lake Champlain.
Lake Champlain is a fascinating system to study mercury because of the variation in biogeochemical properties across its distinct basins. In this research, Dr. Taylor and her team investigated concentrations of mercury in game fish across all seven basins of the lake, compared them to data from previous years, and used stable isotopes of mercury, carbon and nitrogen to assess the sources and processes driving mercury bioaccumulation in the lake. They also compared seasonal trends in mercury in the water column and in zooplankton across the deep and shallow basins, showing the hypolimnia of the deep basins to be zones of heightened bioaccumulation.
April 30, 2025, 12–1pm: Integrating Terrestrial, Snowpack, and Meteorological Drivers of Runoff Generation During Winter Thaws in a Montane Catchment of the Northeastern U.S.
For the final webinar in the Spring 2025 series, join Lake Champlain Sea Grant and Garnet Williams, an MS student in geology at the University of Vermont, to discuss winter runoff patterns in Vermont.
Over the past century, the northeastern U.S. has experienced rising winter temperatures and an increased proportion of precipitation falling as rain rather than snow. Winter warming has resulted in more frequent and intense mid-winter thaw and rain-on-snow events, often triggering extreme hydrologic responses. This webinar will share findings from two successive winters of analyzing soil (e.g., moisture, temperature), meteorological (e.g., rainfall amount and intensity, air temperature), and snowpack (e.g., depth, ripeness) conditions that enhance or diminish runoff response during winter thaw events. High-frequency analysis of these properties provides critical insights to help quantify, manage, and mitigate disturbances caused by changing winter conditions.
To request a disability-related accommodation to participate in any of these webinars, please contact Lake Champlain Sea Grant / Anna Marchessault at 802-777-9130 or seagrant [at] uvm.edu no later than three weeks before your chosen date so we can assist you.