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Girls on the Run
Girls on the Run
Third and fourth grade girls from Barre Town Elementary School participated in the Vermont Girls on the Run 5K event held Sunday, June 8 in Burlington. It was a very hot and humid 3 mile walk/run, but they did it!
The girls on Coach Andrea McLaughlin's team attended classes every Monday and Wednesday after school and learned about respect, healthy living, sharing, cooperation, and most importantly believing in themselves.
Pictured left to right back row: Coach Andrea McLaughlin, Emily Couture, Mary Bowers, Violeta Isak. Middle row: Shelby Santor, Morgan Williams, Julia Keene, Madison Hewitt, Shyann MacNeal, Cameron Gilwee, Kaitlyn Chaffee, Sara Dickinson, Mykayla Commoss. Front row: Nicole Lenetine, Christina Bello, Marisela Isak, Julia Stacey.
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Have a Ball With the Frost Heaves
Members of the Vermont Frost Heaves will once again be featured at the team’s popular Have-A-Ball Kids Camps. Camp sessions began in June and will continue around the state during July and August.
All-ABA performer and Richmond resident Issa Konare; former UVM great and Waterbury Center resident Erik Nelson; Burlington native and ex-Vermont high school ŇMr. BasketballÓ B.J. Robertson; and former Rice High and St. Michael’s standout and ABA Slam Dunk Champion Chris Cayole are among the pro basketball players who will make sure boys and girls get a balanced diet of fun with their fundamentals.
Frost Heaves assistant coach Kerry Lyons, the former Milton High and Lyndon State star who was a member of Vermont’s 2007 ABA title team, will direct three of the camps and appear at a fourth.
Camps run five mornings a week and are open to kids going into grades 1 through 8. All campers receive a T-shirt, a basketball, and a ticket voucher redeemable for one child’s admission to a Frost Heaves game next season.
Central Vermont camps for the remainder of 2008 include:
Ą Barre City, July 7 to 11, directed by Tom Roberge, featuring Erik Nelson. Call 476-0257.
Ą Montpelier, July 28 to August 1, directed by Mallory Graves, featuring Kerry Lyons. Call 223-5141.
Ą Barre City, August 4 to 8, directed by and featuring Kerry Lyons. Call 476-0257.
After winning ABA titles in each of their first two seasons, the Frost Heaves will play next season in the Premier Basketball League. For more information go to vermontfrostheaves.com.
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Central Vermont Fun Runs and Walks
June 24, 2008 results
1 MILE
Female: 0-13 Keara McMullan 12:22
40-49 Mai-lis Ellerson 12:22
2 MILES
Female 14-29 Gabrielle Sikora 19:40
40-49 Betty Sikora 20:28
Wendy Gould 25:15
50-59 Pam Erickson 23:18
60-69 Betty Rose 25:11
Male 50-59 Dave Erickson 23:18
4 MILES
Male 40-49 Bill St. Cyr 36:42
Patrick Sikora 37:04
50-59 John Martin 31:30
Dan Wetmore 31:53
Michael Chernick 40:11
60-69 Greg Gerdel 32:10
Newton Baker 41:58
70-79 Gerry Carlson 40:20
6 MILES
Male 30-39 Herb Hatch 46:09
40-49 Dick Millar 46:09
Tim Heney 48:01
Mark Bates 58:05
50-59 Steve Burkholder 45:02
Fun runs and walks of 1, 2, 4 and 6 miles are held each Tuesday at 5:30pm, May to October. They begin on the bike path behind the Montpelier High School track.
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"Ladies Only" Home Study Hunter Education Offered
Women are demonstrating every day that they are increasingly aware of the many outdoor opportunities Vermont has to offer. With increasing awareness, comes increasing demand for exposure and training. The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department is very pleased to announce a “Ladies Only” Home Study Hunter Education class that will be instructed by, you guessed it, a woman.
“We are very pleased to say that we have several, very experienced and knowledgeable, female instructors in both hunter education and aquatic programs such as Let’s Go Fishing,” said Ann Shangraw, hunter education information specialist. “We’re adding an average of two female instructors a year, and it’s our goal to increase this average. Typically, learning experiences are enhanced for women when taught by the same gender. Everyone should feel completely comfortable in a learning environment, and that’s what we’re trying to provide.”
The “Ladies Only” Home Study Hunter Education class will be held Saturday, July 26, at the Lamoille Valley Fish & Game Club, Garfield Road in Morrisville. Hours are 8:00am Đ 4:00pm. Pre-registration is required by calling (802) 241-3720 before July 10.
Vermont Antlerless Deer Hunt Applications Available Online
Vermont's antlerless deer hunting lottery applications for the muzzleloader season are now available on the web and at license agents statewide. The permits are only for "antlerless deer," defined as deer without antlers or with antlers less than three inches long.
Permit numbers and wildlife management units (WMUs) open to antlerless hunting will not be finalized until August when the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board finishes the regulatory process authorizing season rules.
A hunter who wins an antlerless deer permit in the lottery may take one antlerless deer by muzzleloader in the designated WMU during the December 6-14, 2008 muzzleloader season. Antlerless deer permit applications are now available on Fish & Wildlife’s website, www.vtfishandwildlife.com. Go to “Buy Your License” and select “Online Antlerless Lottery Application.”
”We appreciate that most hunters are supportive of scientific deer herd management,” said Dr. Shawn Haskell, the biologist who chairs Vermont’s deer team. “They realize a certain number of antlerless deer must be removed in some areas of the state in order to keep the deer population in balance with its habitat. Wildlife biologists make WMU-specific recommendations annually, based on winter severity, habitat conditions, deer population goals, and past harvest success rates.”
Only about 20 percent of hunters with antlerless permits actually take deer, and only 80 percent of those are adult females.
The wildlife management units (WMUs) proposed to have muzzleloader antlerless permits this year are A, B, F1, F2, H1, H2, J1, J2, K1, K2, M2, N, O2, and Q. The 22,050 muzzleloader antlerless permits proposed to be issued to help slow the growth of the deer population in these units and are expected to net a harvest of about 4,300 deer.
Applications must be received or delivered in the Waterbury Fish & Wildlife office by 4:30 p.m. on August 22, 2008. The cost is $10 for residents and $25 for nonresidents. A person may submit only one application.
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Purple Traps Placed Throughout Vermont to Survey for Emerald Ash Borer
Don’t be surprised if you see large purple boxes hanging from trees in Vermont this summer. These “boxes” are serving a very important purpose Đ to survey for the invasive pest Emerald Ash Borer (EAB), which has been attacking and killing ash trees in the Midwest since 2002. To date, Vermont has been free of EAB.
As part of a national survey in conjunction with USDA, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture has begun placing the triangular purple insect traps that are about two feet tall, in and near ash trees in campgrounds and along roadsides throughout the state. They are designed to catch the destructive EAB, if it is present.
The purple traps are baited with oil from the Manuka tree, and are coated with a sticky substance to hold insects after they land on the trap. Approximately 180 traps will be placed around the state, concentrating in state parks and campgrounds, as well as private woodlots and along roadsides. The traps will be in place from June 10 to September 1, 2008.
”The traps being placed around Vermont will not attract the insect, but will help us discover if we have an infestation in the state early on and to be able to address it immediately,” said Roger Allbee, Secretary of Agriculture. “The ash tree is a very important natural resource in our state and we want to protect it from this invasive insect.”
Although the exact quantity of white ash in Vermont forests is uncertain, it comprises between 5 and 15 percent of the hardwood forest in most areas. White ash is scattered throughout Vermont as individual trees and in isolated pockets. Green ash is generally present and usually abundant along riverbanks and lakeshores and is a dominant species in the Champlain Islands.
The adult EAB is green in color and no larger than a penny. EAB is an invasive species of wood-boring beetle, native to and eastern Asia that targets ash trees in North America. It was first detected in July of 2002 in southeastern Michigan and has since been found in Ohio, Indiana, Maryland, Illinois, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and in southwestern Ontario. More than 177,900 square miles are currently quarantined due to the presence of the beetle. EAB has been responsible for the death and decline of more than 25 million ash trees in the .
”These insects, as well as many other invasive pests, can be transported unknowingly in firewood brought into the state,” commented Tim Schmalz, plant pathologist for the Agency of Agriculture. “That’s why it is so important to use local sources for firewood when you travel. A good rule is to not move firewood more than 50 miles from where you cut it, and not across state lines. For example, the introduction of EAB in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and parts of northern Michigan are believed to be the result of moving firewood from infested areas.”
The Agency of Agriculture began placing the traps around Vermont in early June 2008. The traps will remain in place until September 1, 2008 and will be checked regularly. For more information on the traps, EAB or other invasive insects visit www.vermontagriculture.com.
Updated Walleye Regulation Effective in January
A new fishing regulation designed to improve walleye fishing in Vermont will take effect in January of 2009.
The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board passed the statewide regulation based on recommendations from the public and state fisheries biologists with the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department. The new fishing rules will apply to all waters of Vermont except Lake Carmi and Chittenden Reservoir.
Walleye and sauger will have an 18” minimum length and a 3-fish creel limit. The open season will be from the first Saturday in May to March 15.
The previous regulations for walleye on Lake Champlain included an 18” minimum length and a 5-fish creel limit, with an open season from the first Saturday in May to March 15. There was no minimum length or bag limit on Lake ChamplainVermont, the minimum length for walleye was 15” with a 5-fish creel limit and no closed season. for sauger, the smaller and rarer cousin of the walleye. In most other waters of
Fish & Wildlife Department biologists gathered input at public meetings and through discussions with members of the Lake Champlain Walleye Association before proposing the rule change. The Fish and Wildlife Board also held three public hearings during the rulemaking process. The biologists and most members of the public who spoke believe the new regulation will improve walleye angling in Vermont. Applying the same regulation statewide simplifies Vermont’s walleye fishing rules, helping anglers to understand and obey the law and helping wardens to enforce it. Applying the 18” minimum length limit statewide will increase the chances that female walleye will have at least one opportunity to spawn before being removed by anglers. The reduced creel limit may help spread harvest more evenly among anglers. The statewide closed season will help protect walleye during the spawning period. The new regulation also protects sauger, which seem to be increasingly rare in Lake Champlain.
Fishing rules on Lake Carmi and Chittenden Reservoir will not change in 2009. Lake Carmi’s special slot limit for walleye was implemented because of the uniquely high productivity and high rate of walleye harvest in this lake, but fisheries biologists say this slot limit is not appropriate for most of Vermont’s waters. Chittenden Reservoir has special walleye regulations in order to produce large walleye that can help control the over-abundant yellow perch population in that Reservoir and provide anglers with an opportunity to harvest a trophy walleye. New Hampshire is responsible for the walleye regulations on the Connecticut River.
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