COLLEGE NEWS
Lauren Calvin, of Rutland, graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Comm Sciences & Disorders, summa cum laude, from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
AROUND TOWN
Garden Club
RUTLAND — Celebrating its 110 years, the Rutland Garden Club, founded in 1914, is also celebrating National Garden Week, June 2 through 8, sponsored by National Garden Clubs. Monday, June 3, began the work of volunteers in downtown Rutland, including the planting of flower boxes and hanging baskets. With the Rutland Recreation and Parks Department and Downtown Rutland Partnership, the Club maintains 20 municipal gardens, including the City Police Department, Chaffee Art Center, Rutland Free Library, Main Street Park Veterans Memorial, and Blue Star Memorial on Woodstock Avenue.
Audubon walks
SUDBURY — June 5, 8 a.m. AARP-sponsored walk at Miller Hill Farm, garden center at 2127 Route 73 East, near the Otter Creek Wetlands. Registration required, under vtaarp events at aarp.org, although it is free and all are welcome.
KILLINGTON — June 11, 7 a.m. Mission Farm, just off U.S. 4, across from the Gondola Killington. To ride-share, meet at 6:30 a.m. at Mendon Town Office, 2282 U.S. 4.
WEST RUTLAND — June 13, 7 a.m. West Rutland Marsh Monitoring Walk. Meet at the boardwalk on Marble Street; go halfway or the 4-mile distance.
BENSON — June 18, 6:50 a.m., the Narrows WMA. Parking is limited and locating challenging, so meet at the easternmost corner of the Shaw’s parking lot near Washington Street Ext. in Fair Haven and will leave at 7 a.m. sharp. Little more rugged terrain than typical RCAS walk, so dress appropriately; expect overgrown roads.
AROUND VT
Sun safety
Vermont’s cancer coalition (VTAAC), Dartmouth Cancer Center, University of Vermont Cancer Center and national nonprofit IMPACT Melanoma are expanding a program that stationed free sunscreen dispensers at 12 parks around the state last year. With the addition of 16 new dispenser sites, even more people will have access to free sunscreen and the protection it provides against over exposure to the sun.
Vermont has the nation’s second-highest incidence rate of melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer. According to the Vermont Department of Health, exposure to ultraviolet light from the sun or tanning beds is a major risk factor for developing melanoma.
2024 New sunscreen dispenser sites by county:
— Bennington, Arlington Lions Club (Arlington Common Courts & Community Area).
— Chittenden, Cathedral Square Elm Place (Milton Family Park Community Center).
— Franklin, Enosburgh Public Library (at Library for Community Events/Youth Camps), Highgate Parks & Rec (Sports Arena), Swanton Public Library (at Library for Community Events/Youth Camps).
— Grand Isle, Camp Ta-Kum-Ta (At Pool and Inside for Winter Use).
— Lamoille, Lamoille Family Center (Lamoille Family Center Play Yard).
— Orange, Little Rivers Health Care (Located at Elizabeth Park).
— Orleans, Barton Community Giving Garden (at Garden/Community Outdoor Space), City of Newport (Prouty Beach Campground), Craftsbury Outdoor Center (Summer & Winter Use), The Wellness Center (NCH) (Location Near Bike Share/Trail access).
— Washington, Capstone Community Action, Inc. (Lamoille Center for Integrated Services), Green Mountain United Way (Outdoor Space near Exercise & Childcare Facilities).
— Windham, Winston Prouty Center for Child & Family Development (Near Trails, Sports Fields).
— Windsor, Edgar May Health & Recreation Center (Near Swimming, Trails)
For more information, visit VTAAC.org/free-sunscreen-dispenser-initiative.
Dog bites
Incidents involving dog attacks on United States Postal Service employees rose to more than 5,800 cases last year. As part of the USPS 2024 National Dog Bite Awareness Campaign week, June 2 through 9, the organization is offers information on how dog owners can be good stewards for safe mail delivery and ensure the safety of our employees.
When a letter carrier comes to your home, keep dogs: inside the house or behind a fence; away from the door or in another room; or on a leash. Pet owners also should remind children not to take mail directly from a letter carrier, as the dog may view the carrier as a threat to the child.
By using Informed Delivery, a free USPS service, customers can digitally preview incoming mail and packages from a computer, tablet or mobile device. Sign up is at informeddelivery.usps.com. This service can help dog owners anticipate when their carrier will arrive.
In Vermont, Bennington, Bristol, Burlington and South Burlington had the most dog bites in 2023 with two each and seven other communities experienced one bite each for a total of 15 statewide in 2023.
VTF&W
Spring plant rediscovered
MONTPELIER — Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department botanists have rediscovered a population of false mermaid-weed (Floerkea proserpinacoides) — not seen in Vermont since 1916 and believed to be locally extinct — along a stream in Addison County. A regionally rare species, false mermaid-weed is listed as endangered in Connecticut and historically known from only one population in Massachusetts.
False mermaid-weed is an annual herb with small, greenish flowers, typically found in floodplain forests along low-gradient rivers. The species is Vermont’s only plant that is both a spring ephemeral and an annual. Spring ephemeral perennials like trout lily and spring beauty spend much of the year as dormant bulbs after flowering and leafing out in the spring. In contrast, individual false mermaid-weed plants die after producing seeds by early June. Each winter, a new flush of seeds germinate under the snow.
Grace Glynn, VTF&W botanist, says the population was found earlier this month thanks to Molly Parren, a VTF&W turtle technician, surveying wood turtle habitat in Addison County when she noticed a species of very rare wild garlic (Allium canadense var. canadense) growing along the stream. Returning the next day to the site, she found hundreds of false mermaid-weed plants growing on a floodplain terrace.
VTF&W plans to work with nearby landowners to survey riparian areas along the stream for additional plants. More occurrences of false mermaid-weed have now also been documented on protected lands just downstream of the rediscovery site.
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