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FNLC MISSION:

To clean and protect the waters of Northern Lake Champlain, we work collaboratively with citizens and government to reduce polluted land-use runoff into Lake Champlain.

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BRIEF HISTORY:

Friends of Northern Lake Champlain is a citizens’ organization dedicated to the rehabilitation and protection of northern Lake Champlain, and all of the waters that flow into it.  Lake Champlain is a magnificent natural/social/economic resource, and we can’t allow it to continue in its degraded state.

The formal history of Friends of Northern Lake Champlain began when Friends of Missisquoi Bay (FMB) was incorporated in Vermont in August 2004, and then became a 501 c3 tax-exempt non-profit in February of 2007.

In June 2009 the name was changed from Friends of Missisquoi Bay to Friends of Northern Lake Champlain. From the early days of the organization the Board of Directors realized that in order to clean up Missisquoi Bay there would be little success if the focus was exclusively on the local problem.  The organization worked to benefit the whole northern Lake, working with many allies in the effort to clean up the water in all of the watersheds of the Northern Lake, including Quebec. So it was a natural progression that the name be changed to Friends of Northern Lake Champlain.

 Our route to improving water quality in the northern Lake is by means of improving land practices in the watershed. We work with farmers, the public, government agencies, businesses, the media, scientists, municipal officials and other environmental organizations.

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FNLC WORKS:

Friends of Northern Lake Champlain is active in three arenas:

PROJECTS:  primarily with water quality on agricultural land, but in 2012 we will also be working on stormwater planning with six municipalities in the northern Lake.

ADVOCACY:  working with the state agencies, the Shumlin administration, legislators, municipal officials, businesses, farmers and others.  We want a clean lake to be high on everybody’s agenda.

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT:  we want to have more citizens and businesses paying more attention to water quality in Lake Champlain and all the streams and rivers.  The Lake is a valuable natural/economic/social resource–  too valuable to leave it like it is.

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More information on the Works page and several Works tabs.