Resources

For peer-reviewed, scientific publications on research conducted in the Lake Champlain basin region, search our Zotero Library.

Lake Champlain Videos is a series of recently released videos to help people understand the lake and its processes and the actions people can take to protect and improve water quality and keep themselves and their pets safe. Visit our YouTube Channel to see the full playlist.

For Lake Champlain Sea Grant publications that include scientific journal articles, reports, brochures, fact sheets, videos, public service announcements, and other materials about our research, outreach, and education related to the Lake Champlain basin, search below.

Salt Tolerant Plant List

Published 2025
This plant list was made to help residents choose the right plants for their property. All these plants can handle salty soils alongside roads, driveways, and in urban areas.

Sustainable Road Salting Practices: Adjusting Salt Used

Published 2025
This fact sheet gives an overview of the sustainable salt practice of adjusting salt usage. Adjusting the amount of salt or pre-wet salt based on conditions is an important tool for snow fighters. They can use an online calculator, air-ground temperature sensors, and weather forecasts to inform their decisions.

Sustainable Road Salting Practices: Brine

Published 2025
This fact sheet gives an overview of using brine as a sustainable road salting practice. Brine is a 23.3% salt-water mixture that is used to treat pavements before (anti-icing) and/or after storms (de-icing). It makes salting more precise and effective.

Sustainable Road Salting Practices: Calibration

Published 2025
This fact sheet outlines the use of calibration as a sustainable road salting practice. Calibration by doing a “drop test” is a process to measure how much salt comes out of the spreader in a given time period.

Sustainable Road Salting Practices: Measuring Pavement Temperature

Published 2025
This fact sheet outlines the practice of measuring pavement temperatures for sustainable road salt use. By measuring pavement temperatures, snow fighters can know whether it is too cold for rock salt to be effective or if salt is not needed as pavement temperatures are above freezing. The product most commonly used to prevent ice from forming on roads and other hard surfaces is sodium chloride. Sodium chloride is only effective at reducing the freezing point of water down to pavement temperatures of 15F. Alternatively, if pavement temperatures are above freezing, no salt is needed.

Sustainable Road Salting Practices: Pre-wetting

Published 2025
This fact sheet outlines the process of pre-wetting as a sustainable road salt practice. Pre-wetting is the process of adding a saltwater mixture (called brine) to dry rock salt.

Sustainable Road Salting Practices: RWIS

Published 2025
This fact sheet gives an overview of using an RWIS as a sustainable road salting practice. An RWIS (pronounced R-wis) is a Road Weather Information Station. RWIS provide real-time site-specific information about conditions at a site using cameras, and air and pavement temperature sensors.

Sustainable Road Salting Practices: Segmented Plows

Published 2025
This fact sheet outlines the use of segmented plows as a sustainable road salt practice. A segmented (or sectional) plow is a plow blade with multiple sections, varying from one to four feet wide. Each segment moves independently along the road surface during plowing, removing snow more effectively as it passes over uneven surfaces.

Sustainable Road Salting Practices: Tracking Salt Use

Published 2025
This fact sheet gives an overview of tracking salt as a sustainable salt practice. A key step in implementing sustainable road salting is to track the amount of salt used. If you don’t know how much salt is being spread, you cannot assess how you are doing to limit its use over time. Luckily, new technologies allow communities and businesses to track salt use with precision.

Turning Lakemount Research into Policy

Published 2025
This 9-12 lesson plan follows Dr. Bianca Possamai and her team at UVM's research on lakemounts in Lake Champlain, these areas are shown to be important biodiversity hotspots. Taking newfound research and addressing it with necessary policy is often a lengthy and fraught task. This lesson plan and subsequent deliverable is focused on understanding scientific research, communicating that research, utilizing leverage points, and exercising public participation in government.

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