DERBY — A local open water swimmer recently completed one of the triple crowns of marathon open water swimming. On July 5, 2020, 16-year-old Vera Rivard of both Derby, Vermont, and Springfield, New Hampshire, completed the world-famous 28.5 mile 20 Bridges Swim in New York City. This swim is a circumnavigation swim around the island…
DERBY — Kingdom Games and the Northeast Kingdom Open Water Swimming Association recently announced that a new small group swimming series at The Clubhous on Lake Memphrenagog will be offered on four Saturdays in July and three Saturdays in August this summer. Each swim is limited to 10 swimmers and 10 kayakers and will be…
EAST CHARLESTON — The 4th annual Westmore Mountain Challenge, scheduled for Saturday, September 26, is open for registration. This one-day, five-mountain marathon hike traverses the trails on Moose Mountain, Mount Hor, Mount Pisgah, Haystack Mountain, and Bald Mountain, ending at the NorthWoods Stewardship Center lodge off the 10-Mile Square Road in East Charleston. “The Westmore…
DERBY — Organizers of this year’s Dandelion Run say they have decided to postpone and merge this year’s event with another event in the fall, as well as finding a way to continue to support a local charity with a more socially distant option. In light of the current crisis, the Dandelion Run has been…
CHARLESTON — Northwoods Stewardship Center and Eden Specialty Ciders recently announced a series of workshops celebrating one of the most important tree fruits of the northeast. Apple Tree Pruning, led by Ben Applegate, orchard manager at Eden Specialty Ciders, will be held at NorthWoods Stewardship Center in East Charleston on March 29, from 9 a.m.…
NEWPORT — Raised black lesions observed in 30 percent of the brown bullhead collected from two sites in Lake Memphremagog from 2014 through 2017 have been identified microscopically as malignant melanoma. This cancer occurrence cluster is raising questions about the cause of the tumors and the implications for the long-term health of fish populations. Studies…
NEWPORT — Over 800 community members came out Saturday to enjoy Newport’s Winter Festival from a new location on the banks of Prouty Beach. The event, which had been hosted at Gardner Park for decades, included music, horse-drawn wagon rides, hot food, fireworks and thanks to some excavation work at the park this fall, a…
NEWPORT — The 2nd annual NEVBA Pike Tournament on South Bay turned out to be a very lucky day for one unsuspecting fisherman. Jonathan Cote didn’t bring in the biggest fish that day, but he did purchase two raffle tickets from the Newport Recreation Committee to support the Gardner Park Playground and Splashpad project. The…
NEWPORT — Four septuagenarian women will be among the 90 winter swimmers participating in this year’s Memphremagog Winter Swim Festival on February 29 and March 1. They will be swimming in a 25-meter, two-lane pool cut in the ice near the EastSide Restaurant in Newport. Water temperatures typically run about 30.5 F and air temperatures…
NEWPORT — Department fisheries biologist Pete Emerson who works in the St. Johnsbury office said landlocked Atlantic salmon fishing on the Clyde River should be picking up this week, as we’ve finally received enough rain to fill the waterbodies upstream. Salmon are starting to show up in the Clyde River trap, so they’re on the…
NEWPORT — The Vermont Land Trust will hold a lottery for hunting at Bluffside Farm in Newport. This is the fourth year the land trust has held the hunting lottery. They will issue permission for deer hunting at Bluffside during three periods: October 19 to November 1 November 16 to December 1 December 7 to…
EAST CHARLESTON — The NorthWoods Stewardship Center in East Charleston recently celebrated 30 years of environmental conservation, education, and stewardship in the communities of northern New England. Over 150 community members attended the event, which included a free community dinner, live music by Celtic ensemble “The Wind that Shakes the Barley,” and a silent auction…
EAST CHARLESTON — The NorthWoods Stewardship Center in East Charleston is celebrating three decades of environmental stewardship in the northeast with a 30th Anniversary Open House on June 8, 2019, from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The event is open to the public and includes a free dinner, music by celebrated Celtic ensemble The Wind…
NEWPORT — With the arrival of longer days and warmer temperatures, Vermont’s bird lovers are looking to the fields and woods for a flit of color in the bushes or listening for an overhead chirp, whistle, squawk or honk as birds engage in their annual spring migration. Some of Vermont’s best bird-watching opportunities are at…
WILLISTON — Craftsbury resident Eric Hanson was recently presented the 2019 GMP-Zetterstrom Environmental Award. Hanson is a biologist at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies (VCE) who spearheaded recovery of the formerly endangered common loon in Vermont. Hanson’s efforts over the past 21 years have included work to educate Vermonters about loons and their nesting needs,…
WESTMORE — Fisheries biologist Pete Emerson will be available for a guided walk at the Willoughby Falls on April 27. The goal of the walk will be to observe the steelhead spawning migration and to answer questions from the public about the fish, the river, and the state-owned lands that border the river much of…
ORLEANS — Hunters, landowners and anyone else interested in deer and moose should plan on attending a Vermont Fish & Wildlife public hearing being held this spring in Orleans. The hearing will take place on Tuesday, April 2, at Lake Region Union High School, located at 317 Lake Region Road. The hearing will include results…
NEWPORT — This weekend, 85 winter swimmers supported by 35 volunteers, will be competing in a two-lane, 25-meter pool cut in the ice on Lake Memphremagog. Swimmers are traveling from all over the United States for the event, as well as internationally from South Africa, Scotland, Spain, and Quebec. They will be swimming 25-meter, 50-meter,…
NEWPORT — Residents may have seen a helicopter flying low overhead as the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department began collaring 30 moose for the third year of a three-year study. The radio-collaring is being carried out primarily within Essex County by a professional contractor. Capture efforts require flying just above tree height and are expected…
EAST CHARLESTON — The NorthWoods Stewardship Center will be hosting the Wild & Woolly Snowshoe Races at their campus in East Charleston on February 9. The event kicks off from 9:30 a.m. and will go until 2:00 p.m. During last autumn’s Westmore Mountain Challenge, organizers say participants requested a similarly spirited competition for the winter…
DERBY – Fourteen-year-old Vera Rivard has been selected as one of Vermont Sports Magazine’s 2018 Athletes of the Year. Vera and her family live in Springfield, NH and have a summer camp in Derby with access to Lake Memphremagog, where she trains. During the winter she swims with Upper Valley Aquatic Club. In July of…
EAST CHARLESTON — The NorthWoods Stewardship Center Conservation Corps’ Watershed Crew has completed its fourth year implementing water quality improvement projects throughout Vermont. Since 2015, the NorthWoods Watershed Crew has installed infiltration steps, open-top culverts, rain gardens, dry wells, dripline trenches, water bars, culverts, and many more stormwater management practices that are designed to help…
WESTMORE — While many are planning to burn the midnight oil to ring in 2019, others are aiming to get out of bed and into nature on the first day of the New Year. State parks around the nation will host free, guided hikes as a part of First Day Hikes, and Jean Haigh with…
NEWPORT – The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department is beginning an angler survey on Lake Memphremagog this December. The survey will extend through November 2020 and will survey anglers on both the American and Canadian sections of the lake. Clerks from the department will interview anglers on the lake 2 to 4 days per week,…
EAST CHARLESTON — Next Friday, December 14, at 6:30 p.m, NorthWoods Stewardship Center and the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Conservation Group will co-host a free screening of the film Green Fire, with a discussion to follow. Green Fire traces Leopold’s personal journey and follows the threads that connect to his legacy today, an extension of…