New Monkton salamander crossing saves hundreds – via Herp Digest

By Joel Banner Baird, Burlington Free Press Staff Writer March 29, 2016

For video of tunnel and more go to 

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2016/03/28/hundreds-saved-new-vermont-salamander-crossing/82336084/

Hundreds of salamanders and frogs have avoided becoming roadkill this spring, thanks to two new amphibian-friendly underpasses in Monkton.

Two wide concrete culverts are successfully funneling the creatures under a section of Monkton-Vergennes Road that infamously separates swampy breeding pools from upland overwintering sites, Salisbury-based herpetologist James Andrews said.

Motorists on that stretch of highway, part of an increasingly popular shortcut between U.S. 7 and Taft Corners, have inflicted mortality rates of more than 50 percent on amphibians during spring and fall migrations, Andrews said.

In past years, volunteers have attempted nocturnal bucket-brigade rescues for the amphibians, to little effect — and at some risk to the humans who crossed the roadway.

For the past two weeks, Andrews said, cameras have recorded the safe passage of scores of rare, blue-spotted salamanders, wood frogs, spring peepers, yellow-spotted salamanders, Eastern newts and four-toed salamanders.

“We are just thrilled to see how well the underpasses are working,” Andrews said. “It was a huge investment of time and money and volunteers.”

Completed in the fall, the $290,000 project took a decade of planning and fundraising by the Monkton Conservation Commission and the Lewis Creek Association.

A Vermont Agency of Transportation/Federal Highway Administration grant provided $150,000 toward construction; a Vermont Fish and Wildlife State Wildlife Action Grant accounted for $45,000.

Private donations from across the country raised about $119,200, according to the Lewis Creek Association.

Essex-based engineering firm Lamoureux and Dickinson designed the new structures, which were installed by S.D. Ireland of Williston.

A recently completed, amphibian-friendly culvert in Monkton — one of two that connects upland habitat with a nearby swamp — proved itself a life-saver for hundreds of salamanders and frogs in late March. Concrete "wings" of the culvert extend about 100 feet to each side of the opening, and act as a funnel for amphibians seeking safe passage. (Photo: Courtesy James Andrews)

The culverts also will allow small mammals such as skunks, raccoon and foxes to cross Monkton-Vergennes Road, Andrews said.

Would such animals make a buffet of the freshly concentrated parade of amphibians under the road?

Not to any devastating extent, Andrews answered: “The biggest predators are the cars.”

Wildlife specialists will continue to monitor the culverts for four-legged traffic, he added, but would-be tourists would be wise to steer clear.

“That stretch of road is as dangerous for humans as it is for amphibians,” Andrews said. “If you want to see amphibians — we suggest you go elsewhere.”

Turtle Nesting Beach Work Day Benefits Spiny Softshell Turtles – via Herp Digest

NORTH HERO, Vt. by Staci DaSilva ,10/24 2015, Nexstar TV

The annual Autumn Turtle Nesting Beach Work Day, held by Vermont Fish & Wildlife, aims to protect the state threatened species.

Volunteers do their part to sustain the species by pulling up vegetation to prepare the sites for nesting next June.

They began their day of cleanup on Saturday at North Hero State Park.

The turtles nest on only a few beaches on the northern parts of Lake Champlain, according to Fish & Wildlife.

"Because so much of the lakeshore is developed, that we have to maintain some of these big sites that have multiple turtles nesting, hundreds, sometimes 200 turtles in small areas,” said Steve Parren, Fish & Wildlife Biologist.

Nesting Beach Work Day not only opens spiny softshell turtles, but also map turtles, painted turtles and snapping turtles.

Some hatchling turtles will be raised in captivity by experts at the ECHO Lake Aquarium and Science Center while they are small and most vulnerable to predators.

They will be released back into Lake Champlain in the spring.

Vt. warns of hungry bears in delayed spring

MARCH 28, 2014 : Updated: March 28, 2014 3:41pm

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — State residents are being urged to take down bird feeders because hungry bears are beginning to emerge from winter hibernation and finding the late arrival of spring means they can't get much to eat, the Department of Fish & Wildlife said Friday.

The cold end to winter and beginning of spring also could be hard on Vermont's deer, which use up much of their fat reserves during the winter, but it could benefit moose because the winter ticks that have become a problem for many moose don't survive prolonged cold weather. Moose aren't as bothered by deep snow.

Continued

Spontaneous Combustion Of 120 Cubic Yards Of Goat Poop Stinks Up Town

WINDSOR, Vt. — A pile of goat manure spontaneously caught fire, spreading stench and wrinkling noses through a Vermont town but causing no damage, officials said.

The odor evoked "a damp kind of burning leaves or brush fire," Windsor Town Manager Tom Marsh said.

A worker on her way to milk goats discovered the fire in the 120-cubic-yard manure pile around 3 a.m. Wednesday, said George Redick, owner of the 800-goat Oak Knoll Dairy. He and others put out the flames with water from a hose but the pile continued to smolder. He planned to call the fire department later in the morning, but firefighters were already searching for the source of the smell by 6:30 a.m.

Marsh said he could smell the fire at his hilltop home five miles away. He called it "a little disconcerting, because it was a very strong smell."

Redick says the manure would typically have been spread around the farm earlier in the year, but the rainy season and other factors kept that from happening.

He said he used to think spontaneous combustion was make-believe.

"Now I'm a believer," he said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/22/goat-poop-fire_n_3797212.html?utm_hp_ref=weird-news

Kane: Diving for Turtles-Lake Champlain – via Herp Digest

12/04/12 Go to http://www.vpr.net/episode/54936/kane-diving-for-turtles/

to listen or download and there is a video

By Adam Kane, Produced by Betty Smith-Mastaler, Vermont Public Radio

(Host) Lately, commentator Adam Kane, Co-Director of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, has been reflecting on things lost and found - in Lake Champlain. 

(Kane) The Lake Champlain Maritime Museum's dive team has a saying: the lake does not give up her secrets easily. Or to paraphrase a more popular expression, sometimes despite our best efforts working in her cold, dark waters, what happens in Lake Champlain stays in Lake Champlain. 

For six years we've been working with a team studying the behavior of rare spiny soft shell turtles in Lake Champlain's Missisquoi Bay. Due to human disturbance, loss of habitat, and nest predation, this unique turtle is threatened in Vermont and Canada. For nearly a decade, a handful of turtles have been tagged with transmitters and followed to learn how best to protect them. 

In the fall, these turtles burrow under the lake bottom to hibernate. Using the transmitters, each turtle's location is determined within a few feet. A diver then descends to the quiet and featureless lake bottom to search for the turtle's hiding place. When the diver finds a likely lump, they carefully dig up the large, often unhappily thrashing turtle. In an instant the peaceful dive becomes a heart pounding wildlife wrestling match. Fortunately the turtle's disturbance is swift; a few measurements and a fresh transmitter, and it gets released back into the lake for its winter sleep. 

As usual, while diving this fall I took dutiful notes in my logbook, which is a Rite in the Rain number 373 (yes, I'm that particular about the brand and model). In these ever-present logbooks I record any secrets the lake cares to yield during dive projects, in this case each turtle's location, dive times, and distinctive turtle nature. There's the reclusive North Hero turtle who winters well south of the other turtles; year after year she shows particular irascibility at being dug up. Or the "River Turtle", who in the past hibernated in the Missisquoi River close to the hustle and bustle of downtown Swanton, but chose this year to sleep instead in Missisquoi Bay with her compatriots. 

Though we've always eventually located all the tagged turtles, this fall went particularly quickly: we successfully located ten turtles in only two days. As the diving came to a close, I was buoyed by how quickly the lake had given up her secrets. For once, locating something in Lake Champlain had seemed relatively easy. 

But the lake always strongly encourages humility. 

When we got to shore my precious logbook was nowhere to be found. It had been inside my clipboard along with my camera and car keys. It must have fallen overboard. Frantic searching was followed by a desperate dive, to no avail. 

Having spent a career looking for objects lost underwater, I knew the log was gone. And as the weak November sun set on Missisquoi Bay, I thought of my log sitting on the dark lake bottom, now an object of curiosity to its former subjects. 

The lake does not give up her secrets easily after all - and sometimes she takes them back.

Sasquatch researcher says Bigfoot ravaged apple orchard in his backyard

CHRISTINE ROBERTS
Sunday, November 25, 2012

A Vermont man insists he spotted Bigfoot in his backyard and he says he's got video to prove it.

Frank Siecienski of Hubbarton first thought that it was only a deer ravaging the apple orchard that stands on his property last year.

He pointed it out to my wife and she says 'oh God,' the deer must have been hungry, he told WCAX-TV this April. And I said no, a deer couldn't have eaten that many apples in one night.

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-11-25/news/35351396_1_bigfoot-researcher-sasquatch-apple-orchard