Efficacy of a Woodchip Bioreactor for Denitrification of Lake Champlain Sea Grant Research Webinar: Jim Sutherland & Chris Navitsky, "Efficacy of a Woodchip Bioreactor for Denitrification of Tertiary Effluent From the Bolton Wastewater Treatment Plant"

Speakers: Jim Sutherland, Scientific Advisor for Lake George Association and Chris Navitsky of Lake George Waterkeeper

When: Wednesday, January 26, 2022, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

Location: Online - Registration required

Register for this Zoom event: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nRGe4_zeRLC8I-t6d1ZOUA
To request a disability-related accommodation to participate in any of these programs, please contact Lake Champlain Sea Grant / Julianna White at 802-777-7017 or seagrant@uvm.edu<mailto:seagrant@uvm.edu> no later than three weeks before your chosen date so we can assist you.

The outdated wastewater treatment plants in the village of Lake George and the town of Bolton in upstate New York were discharging water with an excess of environmentally damaging nitrate-nitrogen and ammonia-nitrogen. Researchers have been exploring the efficacy of a recently installed woodchip bioreactor in combating excess levels of these chemicals discharged from treatment plants. Excess nitrate-nitrogen and ammonia-nitrogen harms local biodiversity, ecology, and water quality and spans beyond the Lake George drainage basin into the Lake Champlain drainage basin.

Researchers study the chemical makeup of wastewater discharged from the woodchip bioreactor and compare it to the wastewater not “treated” by the bioreactor as well as past water chemistry records from “treated” wastewater. Learn about the results of bi-weekly sampling of measures such as pH, temperature, and nitrate-nitrogen/ammonia-nitrogen levels from sampling sites in tributaries that flow into Lake George. The project includes outreach to educate communities, municipalities, and agencies across the drainage basins through field trips to the demonstration bioreactor site.

Participants should expect approximately 30 minutes of presentation, which will be recorded, followed by a facilitated, 30-minute Q&amp;A period.

This seminar is part of the Lake Champlain Sea Grant Seminar Series, and this woodchip bioreactor research project<https://www.uvm.edu/seagrant/research/projects/project-evaluate-efficacy-woodchip-bioreactor-denitrification-tertiary-effluent> is funded by Lake Champlain Sea Grant.

Belonging to Place: Redefining Wilderness and Renewing Human-Land Relationships in the Champlain-Adirondack Biosphere Region
By Lillian Howell

Seminar: 2:30pm ET, Virtual via Microsoft Teams (link coming soon)
Defense: 3:30pm ET, Virtual via Microsoft Teams

Committee
Walter Poleman, Senior Lecturer, RSENR, Advisor
Cheryl Morse, Associate Professor, CAS, Chair
Christopher Brooks, Lecturer, RSENR

ABSTRACT
This project examines how the philosophical underpinnings of wilderness impact human-land relationships more broadly in the Champlain-Adirondack Biosphere Region (CABR). It explores how wilderness as it has been historically defined in Western culture has shaped our ability to belong to Place-It has defined our broader understandings of the relationship between humans and the land and shaped our culture in profound ways. In addition to exploring the history behind wilderness and its societal impacts, a review of Indigenous perspectives on wilderness and human-land relationships follows, as well as a discussion of these topics as they pertain to CABR specifically. To further ground the research in CABR, interviews were conducted with a small sample of individuals whose perspectives give voice to human-land relationships in the region. The goal of this work is to share the complexity and nuance of perspectives held by people from different backgrounds and to draw connections between the literature and each participant's lived experience. Finally, in light of these findings, a proposal is made for a shift in wilderness conservation. This new paradigm, termed Reintegrated Landscapes, focuses on reintegrating nature and culture and is grounded in values of belonging to Place. In order for land trusts to put these new principles into practice, a proposal is made for a Reintegrated Landscape Conservation Easement which embodies this new era in our relationship to land.

Increasing Our Understanding of Tile Drainage Hydrology and Phosphorus Losses in Subsurface and Surface Runoff From Farm Fields in the Lake Champlain Basin

Speaker: Joshua Faulkner, Research Assistant Professor in UVM Extension

Register for this Zoom event: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_oVQlWWKoRYuTLAukRcan_Q
To request a disability-related accommodation to participate in any of these programs, please contact Lake Champlain Sea Grant / Julianna White at 802-777-7017 or seagrant@uvm.edu<mailto:seagrant@uvm.edu> no later than three weeks before your chosen date so we can assist you.

Tile drainage is a key strategy that farmers in the Lake Champlain basin are using to adapt to climate change, but our understanding of how tile alters field hydrology and transports phosphorus to surface waters is lacking. Dr. Faulkner's research monitored discharge and phosphorus loss from three tile drainage systems and two surface runoff points intensively for two years. Results include total annual export of phosphorus and nitrogen in tiled fields, an improved understanding of soil matrix and preferential flow pathways, and how rainfall intensity (and climate change) may influence phosphorus transport at the field-scale.

Joshua Faulkner, PhD, is a Research Assistant Professor in UVM Extension and has coordinated the Farming and Climate Change Program in the UVM Center for Sustainable Agriculture for the past eight years. He conducts applied research on agricultural hydrology, soil health, and water quality and provides technical assistance to farmers and other stakeholders on soil and water management to build climate resilience. His program currently manages over 20 edge-of-field and watershed monitoring stations across the state of Vermont.

Participants should expect approximately 30 minutes of presentation, which will be recorded, followed by a facilitated, 30-minute Q&amp;A period.

This seminar is part of the Lake Champlain Sea Grant Seminar Series, and Dr. Faulkner's research project<https://www.uvm.edu/seagrant/research/projects/improving-our-understanding-interactions-between-best-management-practices-tile> is funded by Lake Champlain Sea Grant.

Modeling the Impacts of Forage Fish Invasion and Native Piscivore Establishment on the Food Web of Lake Champlain

Speaker: Justin Lesser, Postdoctoral Associate in the University of Vermont Rubenstein School

Register for this Zoom event: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_VZrMCBrGSw2t1t3tvgmOBA
To request a disability-related accommodation to participate in any of these programs, please contact Lake Champlain Sea Grant / Julianna White at 802-777-7017 or seagrant@uvm.edu<mailto:seagrant@uvm.edu> no later than three weeks before your chosen date so we can assist you.

The food web of Lake Champlain has been subjected to a host of changes via species invasion, extirpation, reestablishment, and anthropogenic manipulation. Using an Ecopath with Ecosim biomass model of the food web of the cold-water (deep) portion of the Lake, Dr. Lessor assess the biomass dynamics of the system before and after the invasion of an additional pool of prey to the system and assess the impacts of wild lake trout re-establishment in potential future stocking scenarios. This model highlights the impact anticipated invasions may have on the food web of the lake, provides guidance on a potential stocking plan for lake trout as wild populations begin to establish, and sheds important light on area which still need further study, such as the connection between the food webs of disparate habitats and their contribution to biomass production in the cold-water portion of the lake.

Dr. Justin S. Lesser, Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Vermont, completed his PhD in the summer of 2021 with Dr. Jimmy Nelson at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He was a student on the Plum Island Ecosystems Long-Term Ecological Research Site. Previously, Dr. Lesser used stable isotope analysis and field studies to understand how landscape features influence the ability of mobile consumers to connect disparate saltmarsh food webs and developed novel isotope analysis techniques to quantify multidimensional trophic niches of consumers. For his postdoctoral research at UVM, he is developing a food web model of Lake Champlain to better understand the impact different ecological events have had on the lake’s food web as well as predict what we might expect to see in the future.

Participants should expect approximately 30 minutes of presentation, which will be recorded, followed by a facilitated, 30-minute Q&amp;A period.

This seminar is part of the Lake Champlain Sea Grant Seminar Series.

Winter Mercury Patterns in Lake Champlain and Future Environmental Health Risks

Speaker: Roxanne Karimi, Faculty at Stony Brook University and Scientist at Vermont Department of Health

Register for the online Zoom event: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1eW3hBK1T2a0MkjcTGWoHg
To request a disability-related accommodation to participate in any of these programs, please contact Lake Champlain Sea Grant / Julianna White at 802-777-7017 or seagrant@uvm.edu<mailto:seagrant@uvm.edu> no later than three weeks before your chosen date so we can assist you.

Scientists have studied mercury cycling in lakes for decades. However, mercury bioavailability and transfer through the food chain during the winter is understudied compared to other seasons despite its potential sensitivity to climate change and importance to environmental health risks. This seminar will compare mercury bioavailability and bioaccumulation patterns in Lake Champlain basins across seasons from the team's field research. They will also discuss the implications of these patterns for fish consumption risks, including unique risks to subsistence anglers.

Roxanne Karimi is an environmental health scientist with decades of research expertise on mercury, other heavy metals, and important nutrients at the intersection of aquatic ecosystems and human health. She is a faculty member at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University and scientist at the Environmental Health division at the Vermont Department of Health where she runs the Lead in Schools program.

Participants should expect approximately 30 minutes of presentation, which will be recorded, followed by a facilitated, 30-minute Q&amp;A period.

This seminar is part of the Lake Champlain Sea Grant Seminar Series, and Roxanne Karimi's research project<https://www.uvm.edu/seagrant/research/projects/assessing-winter-mercury-patterns-lake-champlain-basin> is funded by Lake Champlain Sea Grant.