An article in the current issue of National Wildlife Magazine highlights the troubles of a lake that might not immediately come to mind as “A Lake in Distress” — Lake Champlain. But a number of issues have led citizens and groups in the lake basin to take action. Just one example is the phosphorus runoff that lead to algal blooms in the lake.

The article brings together a number of recently discussed topics, including:

  • land trusts and easements, which are being used not only to preserve the land but restore it,
  • which of course helps to restore ecosystem services, in the form of retaining the phosphorous that would otherwise run off, and
  • the effects of changing land use, namely, the rise in non-point source pollution and runoff.