Lake Champlain: The Untold Story (Short Documentary)

a significant piece of Vermont culture is a body of water that covers its northwestern border this body of water is called Lake Champlain Lake Champlain is home to over 80 species of fish in over 300 different types of birds covering more than 400 square miles of surface water it plays a key role for the local Vermonters and New Yorkers who live on it but in order to understand the significance of Lake Champlain we must go back to the early stages event in the year 1609 the lake was officially founded by French explorer Samuel de Champlain the lake was later named after him although he wasn't the first person to discover it several years before European contact the lake was obtained by the Native Americans such as the Iroquois the Abenaki and NEMA heekin later on down the road the lake was used for the purpose of war during the Revolutionary War Lake Champlain was used as a passageway that connected the Hudson and st. Lawrence River during the War of 1812 battles were fought on Lake Champlain between America and Great Britain one of the well-known battles is the Battle of Plattsburgh fought on the New York side of Lake Champlain throughout the history of Lake Champlain there has been a myth that a lake monster lived within his waters this monster was nicknamed champ most popular photograph of champ was taken in 1977 by Sandra Mansi according to Mansi she was enjoying a day on the water in st. Albans Bay when the monster appeared before leaving the scene she snapped a picture and forever changed the way the locals looked at the lake in the 1980s laws were even passed in both Vermont and New York to protect this alleged champ the legend became so beloved in Vermont that the mascot of the Vermont's minor league baseball team was named after him whether you believe in the legend or not it is certainly an interesting myth nonetheless in the year 1998 Lake Champlain was officially recognized as a great lake unfortunately this status was later revoked Lake Champlain kept the title of Great Lakes for only 18 days in modern times Lake Champlain is used as a tourist attraction people travel from all over New England to enjoy Lake Champlain there's a variety of different activities that take place on the lake including boating fishing tubing canoeing and much much more even during the winter people can enjoy the lake by skating playing hockey and ice fishing now from all of this information you're probably thinking that Lake Champlain is some kind of divine body of water unfortunately this isn't true just like everything there are positives and negatives in earlier times Samuel de Champlain described the lake using the word pristine but over the years human interaction has caused the lake to lose its luxury several problems face the lake such as the increase of invasive species and the millions of zebra mussels that developed and cover the lake floor but the biggest threat that the lake faces is the blue-green algae epidemic and if we don't tackle this issue soon we will be leaving a body of waste for our future blue-green algae is a bacteria that forms on the lake on calm hot days usually in the summer the blooms can give off toxins that irritate human skin and it can make you sick giving you stomach issues there have also been reports of several dogs being killed due to blue-green algae the worst areas of the lake in terms of blue-green algae are found up north by the st. Albans Bay in the Missisquoi Bay these areas have taken a toll because of the blue-green algae the st. Albans Bay used to be a tourist attraction having over 50,000 visitors a year but now that number has dropped to 5,000 also the real estate is taking a toll because how sellers on the lake are able to sell their homes popular beaches on hot summer days are closing because of blue-green algae now in order to fix this problem several steps must be taken this is because spreading an increase of blue-green algae is caused by several culprits the largest factor is farming Vermont is known for agriculture and farmland so it's obvious that a lot of fields and farms are located around the lake when farmers spread manure or fertilizer across the field a large majority of the phosphorus and nitrogen will end up in the lake these two elements are ingredients for blue-green algae although this is the main factor that impacts the lake it's not the only one there are several others including sewage runoff sand littering oftentimes people are polluting the lake without even knowing it now after hearing about blue-green algae you still might be convinced that this isn't a big deal so I decided to interview some locals who lived around the lake and find out what the lake means to them so I spent all my summers up here when I was a kid I grew up in Connecticut my parents used to bring us up here for the whole summer we would come up in the winter and go ice fishing and skating the lake has always meant to me it's always been a place for family and just home when I bought my parents camp for a full time house I planned on raising my son here and um having him enjoy it as much as we did with the clear water and lots of tubing and swimming and fishing and he loves it he probably appreciates it more than any of us ever did what do you like about Lake Champlain I like fishing and swimming you know it's really unfortunate to see was come of the lake considering that over the summer all I do is hang out in the lake I'm either boating going to being fishing or swimming in the lake in the fact that in the future that may not be possible scares me so when I was a kid the water was almost always perfectly clear there's hardly any bad days of swimming and now it's pretty depressing when you come and the waters thick green you know soupy smelly but an algae not all the time but when you have your heart set on boating or swimming and you come down to the lake and it's green and smelling kind of depressing and there are days probably a handful of days at least every summer when you can't go in because the waters just too green or nasty last summer I didn't let the dog in at all because she says there's green algae around and I didn't want to take a chance that some of it had drifted in here with us as well so it's always a concern now that never ever used to be a concern mentally orchids as you can see Lake Champlain means a lot to people who live around it and have a history with it people who aren't around Lake Champlain may think that it's just a body of water but the locals know that it's a lot more than that Lake Champlain is history it's a place where many people have laid their foundation and continue to live on it's a place where you can get away from the crowded city and just relax Lake Champlain is a privilege to Vermonters and New Yorkers but if we don't treat the lake with the courtesy that it deserves our future won't be able to enjoy this paradise member

Channel: MasMash Films

Views: 46,525

Rating: 4.7274938 out of 5

Keywords: Lake Champlain, Lake Champlain: The Untold Story, The Untold Story, Lake, Champlain, Samuel De Champlain, Champ, Lake Monster, Champ the Lake Monster, Lake Champlain Monster, Champ monster, Blue Green Algae, Short Film, Short Doc, Short Documentary, Documentary, Doc, Lake Champlain Documentary, Blue Green Algae documentary

Id: vNBIjU7Z6mw

Length: 9min 1sec (541 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 13 2016