A Watershed Moment: Building the Next Generation of Lake Memphremagog Stewards

As the Clean Water Service Provider for the Lake Memphremagog Basin, VHCB administers funding programs that go beyond infrastructure, supporting projects that reduce phosphorus loading, restore aquatic habitats, and build community capacity for long-term watershed stewardship. Through two complementary programs, the Memphremagog Clean Water Service Provider program and the Leahy Memphremagog Clean Water Program, VHCB is demonstrating how strategic investment in water quality, education, and collaboration creates lasting change.

The Leahy Memphremagog Clean Water Program, funded through the Great Lakes Fishery Commission and made possible by Senator Patrick Leahy, addresses critical gaps by funding not only on-the-ground implementation work like riparian buffers and habitat restoration, but also organizational capacity building, cross-border collaboration with Quebec, and public education. In Newport, Vermont, these investments are coming together to show how clean water improvements become most effective when communities, especially young people, understand why they matter.

In August 2024, VHCB awarded $886,323 in the first round of Leahy Memphremagog Clean Water Program funding to seven organizations working to advance aquatic habitat improvement and increase organizational capacity in the watershed. The results illustrate the power of blending infrastructure with education.

Building Stewardship Through Interactive Education

One powerful example is the work of the Memphremagog Science & Education Center (MemSEC).  In 2018, MemSEC launched its Floating Classroom aboard the Northern Star, docked at Newport City docked at Newport City Docks. In this unique setting, students develop fieldwork skills through hands-on learning about water monitoring and local conservation efforts in the Lake Memphremagog watershed.

The program has grown significantly, serving 775 K-12 students from 24 regional schools, including Newport City Elementary, Derby Elementary, Troy School, Coventry, Irasburg, Brownington, and Barton. MemSEC has even shared in-person programs with eighty students from Magog Montessori through a cross-border collaborative partnership with COGESAF (Conseil de gouvernance de l’eau des bassins versants de la rivière Saint-François).

From Boat to Building: A Year-Round Learning Space

Vermont’s climate makes year-round outdoor learning challenging. Recognizing this, MemSEC worked to create a permanent land-based facility to expand the program. In April 2025, with partial funding from the Leahy Memphremagog Clean Water Program (LMCWP) administered by VHCB, the center opened a hybrid learning space in Newport’s Gateway Center.

Students aboard the Northern Star practice water quality monitoring as part of MemSEC’s Floating Classroom program on Lake Memphremagog.

The new facility features bilingual informative panels explaining the lake’s geologic origins, upland and aquatic habitats, the history of the Abenaki people of the watershed, and more. Interactive elements include a stream model demonstrating erosion and deposition, and an augmented-reality sandbox using projection technology to map topography and surface water runoff.

These immersive experiences serve two purposes: educating students about complex water-quality science concepts while fostering a deep sense of place, connection, and responsibility that inspires watershed stewardship.

“Invest in the youth, educate them and help them appreciate their community—economic and social development will follow,” explained Douglas Casson Coutts, Chair of the Education Committee for MemSEC, who helped develop the center. He invoked the words of Senegalese engineer and forester Baba Dioum: “We preserve what we love; we protect better what we know.”

 

Infrastructure Meets Education: Stormwater and the Schoolyard

Alongside these educational advances, the watershed is seeing infrastructure improvements that directly protect water quality. At Newport City Elementary School, a major green-infrastructure project recently reached completion to manage stormwater runoff and reduce phosphorus and sediment deposits in Lake Memphremagog.

Funded through Vermont’s Green Schools Initiative with engineering design partners, the new system diverts water from parking lots, rooftops, and lawns into an R-Tank HD infiltration system, reducing an estimated 2.9 pounds of phosphorus and 592 pounds of sediment annually.

The project’s strength lies in its integration with education. The school contributed a 10% match by investing in environmental education through MemSEC, enabling students to earn Leave-No-Trace Awareness Certification through Floating Classroom experiences aboard the Northern Star. This dual investment in infrastructure and youth engagement ensures clean-water improvements are anchored by informed community members who understand why these efforts matter.

Catalyzing Capacity, Collaboration, and Conservation