Via Community News Service, a University of Vermont journalism internship
Community News Service sat down with Jenny Patterson, the new executive director of the Lake Champlain Committee, to discuss her vision for the Burlington nonprofit. With a background in environmental law, she steps into the role at a crucial time for the lake’s health. Patterson started her job in January, replacing longtime executive director Lori Fisher, who retired in 2024. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What are your hopes and goals for this role?
In a nutshell, my hopes and goals are to continue the great work that the LCC has been doing since 1963. It’s an amazing organization, and what I particularly like about it is the way that it focuses on science-based advocacy, and much of the science is community science.
I actually was a volunteer: a cyanobacteria monitor and also an invasive species monitor with LCC’s Champlain Aquatic Invasive Monitoring Program. It was a fantastic way for me to get involved and get back to my environmental roots. I’m really excited to continue those programs. The other focus for me is to think about additional partners and expand the work we do on the New York side of the lake.
What was your background before leading LCC?
I have always been a person who cares deeply about Lake Champlain because my family has been connected on both sides of the lake for generations. My connection to the lake and to the outdoors is what made me interested in environmental studies. When I was at Oberlin College I studied environmental studies and government and that’s kind of the thread throughout my life of what’s been important to me. I worked for nonprofit and environmental organizations after college and then decided to go to law school so I could be a better advocate for environmental protection.
I ended up out of law school getting a job with the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Environmental Protection Bureau. I represented the Department of Environmental Services and the Fish and Game Department. Getting into the midst of the interconnected issues was very interesting to me, and I stayed for eight years. I left briefly to work for the (environmental nonprofit) Conservation Law Foundation. Then the attorney general asked me to come back as bureau chief, so I held that position for another five and a half years. I then had a hiatus from environmental work to work on public health policy. I worked in that sector for a while, but I am just so excited to be back doing environmental work. It puts a smile on my face every time I get to be outdoors and feel that connection with the lake.
Do you foresee any potential struggles or issues happening under the Trump administration?
I’ve definitely been tracking what’s happening because I think it’s important for any nonprofit organization to understand what is happening with federal funding. What that will mean ultimately, I don’t know. A lot of the work that I have done around advocacy has involved coalitions that might have been surprising if I had thought about them ahead of time. I think that the protection of a lake, like Lake Champlain, is really a bipartisan issue. I’m very optimistic about the ability to work with a lot of different partners on these issues, and I think that the Lake Champlain Committee has a really strong history of that on both sides of the lake. As long as we can be talking to each other, that’s the most important first step.
What does the Lake Champlain Committee focus on, and what are you focusing on right now?
For me personally, I’m making sure that we continue all of the programs that we’ve been doing for so many years. It’s always daunting coming into an organization that’s had a single executive director for as long as the LCC has had, and Lori Fisher has done such amazing work. As my dad would say, ‘If you have a question about the lake, call Lori Fisher!’
So I think continuing all of the things that we’ve been doing like cyanobacteria monitoring and how LCC has involved community members in these programs. One of our volunteers was the first to find a new endangered species, which is sad, but it’s good that the program was there for that person to find. The other thing I want to make sure that I’m doing is partnering closely with the Lake Champlain Basin Program. They are really wonderful. Also, the road salt chloride contamination bill that’s being considered by the Vermont Legislature is something that has been a high priority for LCC for a while and hopefully it will continue to progress.
What are the most pressing issues facing the lake?
I think that the cyanobacteria blooms and their prevalence are indicative of excess nutrients, primarily phosphorus, and are very exacerbated by higher temperatures due to climate change. Those are the most pressing issues, I believe. You want this to be a lake where you can swim, and my whole life it has always been somewhere you can swim, which is why I became a monitor for cyanobacteria because I wanted to understand when it was and wasn’t safe for me and my dog to go in.
It can really bring feelings of sadness or despair around the lake, which is why we need to work affirmatively on projects that will reduce the phosphorus. We can’t necessarily stop all of it, but it is definitely a high priority.