Middlebury College
In 1998 Middlebury College awarded Crea an honorary Doctor of
Science degree in recognition of the Foundation’s sustained commitment
to two major research projects by scientists at the college: the
“Whole Lake Survey,” a decade-long endeavor by oceanographers and
limnologists Pat and Tom Manley to map the bottom of Lake Champlain,
and herpetologist Jim Andrews’ work to inventory reptile and amphibian
species in Vermont. Each of these studies of critical and previously
under-researched areas is capable of influencing commerce, infrastructure,
and industry throughout the state. The Foundation recognized the
promise of these projects early in their development, and has funded
each for over 10 years.
“If you want to do any kind of clean-up, you’ve got to know how
the water is reading. If you want to put in a fishery, you’ve got
to know how the water is reading. These people know how to study
the water regime,” says Crea of the Manleys. When they arrived
at Middlebury, Pat and Tom saw in Lake Champlain a tremendous opportunity
for new and innovative research. “The lake represents a unique
laboratory to analyze the effect of hydrodynamics on sediment transport,
a question of great interest to both of us,” Pat says. “Currents
respond to topography, and understanding them can inform decisions
about sewage disposal, the circulation of pollutants, algae blooms,
and other difficult intersections between humans and nature.”
Working in partnership with the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum,
the Manleys and their student research team used sonar to take
over 700,000 measurements of the lake bottom. In the process they
discovered the deepest depths, previously unknown ridges, 30-meter-wide
depressions (“pockmarks”) created by underwater springs, and dozens
of new shipwrecks for the Maritime Museum to study.
With the resulting comprehensive map of the lake’s topography
complete, the Manleys’ next venture, supported by the Lintilhac
Foundation, is a survey of lake-bottom sediment. Studies of bottom
sediment will yield, among other things, a detailed record of the
climate history of Lake Champlain over the past 12,000 - 14,000
years.
Another important Foundation-supported research project at Middlebury
is the Vermont Reptile and Amphibian Atlas Project, directed by
herpetologist Jim Andrews. The functions of the Atlas project,
now in its sixteenth year, are to gather information on the distribution
and abundance of reptiles and amphibians in the state, to monitor
populations at selected sites, to store that information in a database,
and to make it available to the public. Andrews sees the Atlas
as a means not just for raising awareness about what can often
be overlooked species, but also a significant tool in conservation
and land stewardship considerations. “Herptiles are representative
of non-game species whose habitat needs have not generally been
taken into consideration. It’s important for people to think about,”
he says, “and I believe that as a result of this project the impacts
on these species of wetland alteration, roads, herbicides, and
forest management techniques are now regularly discussed.”
One aspect of the Atlas project began as site-specific monitoring
studies on Mount Mansfield and in West Haven’s Ward Marsh. The
distribution studies began soon after and the scope of the project
has grown into a network of students, organizations, and hundreds
of “citizen scientists,” as Andrews likes to call them, who make
contributions to a publicly available database. There are now over
55,000 records tracking distribution and behavior of reptiles and
amphibians throughout the state. A website, atlas maps, and illustrated
species posters are available to schools and libraries, and Andrews
is at work on the first book to comprehensively anthologize these
species in Vermont.
Mapping the bottom of Lake Champlain. From right: Tom Manley,
Tara Taylor-Ide, Brad Michalchuk, and Pat Manley.
Middlebury herpetologist Jim Andrews (left) with students.