Welcome to the Lake Champlain Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office (FWCO). Our office was established through provisions in the Lake Champlain Special Designation Act of 1990 and through the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Lake Champlain Basin Program Act of 2002. We protect, restore and manage fish and wildlife, and their habitats in the Lake Champlain, Connecticut River and Hudson River watersheds, and across Vermont.
Our goals are to improve the health of our lakes, rivers and watersheds, and to increase the diversity, distribution and abundance of ecologically and economically important fish and wildlife.
All of our work is conducted through partnerships with others including the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department (VFWD), New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service, Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, The Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited, universities, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), recreational anglers, farmers and other landowners and many other partners.
We facilitate the Lake Champlain Fish and Wildlife Management Cooperative with the VFWD and NYSDEC, Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources and we are key partners in the Lake Champlain Basin Program. We work closely – as part of the Western New England Complex – with these three national fish hatcheries in western New England, helping to restore native fish in Lake Champlain, the Great Lakes and the northeastern United States:
We also work with the Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge to conserve and restore habitat on refuge lands and in the Missisquoi River watershed.
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