Lake Champlain
Land Trust History
The Land Trust's 25th Anniversary
"a large lake with
beautiful islands and a great deal of beautiful country surrounding
it”
the first recorded Native American
description of Lake Champlain
The Lake Champlain Land Trust started
in the bow of a boat, in the hands of a few concerned conservationists.
This visionary group started as the Conservation Committee of
the Green Mountain Audubon Society's Board of Trustees, whose
focus for many years had been the islands of Lake Champlain and
their precious bird habitat. In 1972 the group decided to do
something about it. They began a study that would, five years
later, evolve into the Lake Champlain Islands Trust, now the Lake
Champlain Land Trust. Spending their Saturdays studying
and policing the Champlain Islands, hanging nesting signs and
educating people on the common tern,
these founders began sewing seeds that would grow into the core
beliefs of the Lake Champlain Land Trust: helping to preserve
lakeshore and natural areas. The committee also discovered an
abundance of other bird populations dependant on the islands
for their nesting sites including the ring-billed
gull, herring gull, cattle egret,
and black crowned night heron. In 1977, the states of New York and Vermont,
working with the New England River Basins Commission launched
a two-year water and related land resource study of the Lake
and its related land. That study, along with the dedicated work
of the Conservation Committee and many conservation organizations
around the Lake formed the backbone of the Lake Champlain Land
Trust in the next year. The group created a formal organization
in 1978 and by October of 1978 received its first gift—an
island in South Hero known as Carleton's
Prize, famous for the role it played in the Revolutionary
War. Marble Island, a small island in Mallet's Bay was donated
shortly thereafter and a conservation easement was donated on
the shoreline at Shelburne Farms. The first paid staff member
was hired soon after. Volunteers have been, and continue to be
our lifeblood. Since 1978 we have protected over forty parcels
of land including beautiful Eagle Mountain in Milton, fossil
rich Fisk Quarry, Mayes Landing on the Burlington Bike Path and
Rossetti Natural Area in Colchester.
Twenty five years later, our mission, saving
and preserving lakeshore and natural areas, remains the same.
That core group of founding conservationists has now grown
into an organization with over 750 members. The first conserved
property, Carletons Prize, is now joined by 40 other parcels
of land. The Land Trust now depends on two full time staff
members, several consultants and a dedicated force of volunteers
to accomplish its work. There is much still to do!
|
Carleton's Prize - this island received its name after being mistakenly bombarded
by the British fleet under the command of Sir Guy Carleton, in search of
Benedict Arnold's vessels after the Revoluntionary War battle of Valcour
Island in 1776. 
The view from Eagle Mountain, looking
west to the Adirondack Mountains.
 Round Pond Natural
Area in South Hero |
