Vermont State Parks

Earlier this week, we received an email from a park visitor who happened upon some strange black boxes in the woods at Lake Shaftsbury State Park. There were at least a dozen of them and he was curious about their purpose, so he sent us photos and asked if we knew what they were.We shared them around with park staff, managers, friends at Fish & Wildlife and a host of others, to no avail. Finally, today, we have an answer!  They are mosquito traps. Our friends at Vermont Agency of Agriculture explains, "Yes! Those are resting box traps. We come by weekly during our collection season (beginning of June through Mid-October) and use an aspirator (a big vacuum) to collect mosquitoes in the boxes. They are called resting boxes because after a female mosquito feeds, she settles to the forest floor looking for a dark place to digest the blood meal and create eggs. Resting boxes target  Culiseta melanura , the primary vector of Eastern Equine Encephalitis, although we do get ot...

Waterbury, Vt . – Eight months of work is underway to improve public access areas at the Waterbury Reservoir. The project will require temporary closures at some sites while work is underway, and will include improvements to parking lots, erosion prevention, and boat ramp upgrades. Installation of a new composting toilet Installation of a concrete boat launch Paving of the access road and parking area (may occur in Spring 2019 depending on weather conditions) Erosion control and site drainage improvements Traffic flow improvements Installation of a concrete boat launch Re-grading the parking area Guard rail installation Erosion control and site drainage improvements Installation of a concrete hand carry access ramp Re-grading the parking area Erosion control and site drainage improvements The locations include Waterbury Dam Boat Launch, Blush Hill Boat Launch and the Moscow Paddler A...