Lake Champlain Sea Grant Welcomes New Partnered Fellow, Gracie Grimes
By Jessie Curl, Program Specialist, Lake Champlain Sea Grant
Lake Champlain Sea Grant (LCSG) is thrilled to partner with the Friends of Northern Lake Champlain (FNLC) to host Gracie Grimes as a new Partnered Fellow. This marks LCSG’s seventh partnered fellowship—an initiative that pairs LCSG with community organizations, including local nonprofits and municipalities, to support positions that benefit both partners while fostering professional growth for future leaders.
These fellowships are designed to provide hands-on experience, helping fellows build and hone the skills and knowledge base needed for careers in environmental and community-focused fields.
Gracie’s fellowship focuses on how community engagement, informal education, and storytelling can bridge gaps in environmental understanding. In this role, she will provide critical support in advancing watershed stewardship, community outreach, and conservation project coordination throughout the Northern Lake Champlain region.
A goal of this fellowship is to develop a subwatershed engagement model that combines social science with technical assistance and public programs to foster personal connections to land and water. A key barrier is that many water quality projects, such as stormwater catchment basins or culvert retrofits, are not visible or emotionally resonant, making it hard to gain public support.
Over the course of the fellowship, Gracie will research what drives community members to engage in environmental efforts. She will assess current levels of community knowledge about the local landscape and explore new, exciting ways to promote watershed education. This work aims to equip community members with the tools and knowledge needed to become active stewards.
Through a combination of applied research and hands-on outreach, this fellowship will help design, test, and evaluate a model for subwatershed engagement that is replicable, scalable, and grounded in the lived experiences of Lake Champlain communities.
Gracie brings valuable experience to this role, having previously served as an ECO AmeriCorps member with FNLC before becoming the Community Engagement Specialist. She joined the organization after graduating from Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama.
“As someone with a deep passion for conservation and community connection, I am most excited to become even more immersed in an environment with many different people and landscapes” states Grimes. “I am looking forward to learning from the people I connect with, hearing their thoughts and concerns and working toward solutions together.”
Gracie’s findings will be shared widely, including through the Lake Champlain Sea Grant newsletter upon publication. LCSG and FNLC look forward to this partnership and the impact of her work in the region!