Board of Directors
Linda Fitch
ILMPT President & Founder/Director
Kathleen Balutansky
Professor Emerita, English, St. Michaels College
Kevin Behm
ILMPT Planning and Mapping
Addison County Regional Planning Commission,
Assistant Director, GIS Manager
Claire Durand,
Chair, ILMPT Music Coordinator
Professor of Music (ret)
Anthony Fowler
ILMPT Secretary
Education Committee
Professor Emeritus, Geology, University of Ottawa
Elizabeth Lee
Chair, ILMPT Public Relations and Communications
Lake Champlain Basin Program, Communication
and Publications Associate
Advisory Board
John Austin
Wildlife Biologist
VT Fish & Wildlife Dept
Art Cohn
Director (ret), Lake Champlain Maritime Museum
David Griffing
Professor of Geology Hartwick College
Oneanta, New York
George R. McGhee
Professor, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
Charlotte Mehrtens
Professor, Dept of Geology
University of Vermont, Burlington, VT
Jennifer Morgan
Author of Universe Trilogy Princeton, NJ
Charles Ratte
Former VT State Geologist,
Megan Epler Wood
Founder & Past President,
International Ecotourism Society
The Isle La Motte Preservation Trust: a Non Profit Organization
The trails of the Goodsell Ridge Preserve are open. The "Walk Through Time Trail" - almost a mile in length, is lined with a series of panels which tell the story of life on Earth. Another series of interpretive signs have been recently installed at our fossil seven "Discovery Areas" describing the fossils to be found in these particular rock outcrops.
The "Conservation Barn" is a visitor center housed in a renovated dairy barn on the preserve - and is open to the public on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday afternoons from 12:00-4:00pm.
The Fisk Quarry Preserve, is a 20 acre preserve, where fossils in the rock floor of the old quarry include the spiral shaped gastropods. White forms in the walls of the old quarry (known as the "oldest quarry in Vermont) are fossils called stromatoporoids.
About:
The Isle La Motte Preservation Trust (ILMPT) is a non profit organization founded in 1998, and based on Isle La Motte, Vermont, the northernmost island of Lake Champlain. We support efforts to conserve land, preserve historic island architecture, and support our local farms, working with partners such as the Vermont Preservation Trust, the Lake Champlain Land Trust, the Vermont Land Trust and the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board,
An important focus of our work has been the conservation of significant sites of the 460 million year old Chazy Fossil Reef, a world renowned geological treasure, which underlies and outcrops much of the bedrock of southern Isle La Motte. Two preserves protect the fossil rocks - the Fisk Quarry and the Goodsell Ridge Preserves. Both are research and education sites protected in perpetuity by conservation easements co-held by the Lake Champlain Land Trust and the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board. In 2009 these Chazy Fossil Reef sites were awarded the prestigious designation of National Natural Landmark by the US Dept of the Interior.
The "Conservation Barn" on the Goodsell Ridge Preserve is open from June to mid-October and houses fossil exhibits and interpretive displays which tell the story of the ancient fossil reef. It also serves as a venue for concerts and art exhibits which support our conservation mission.
Our Mission:
to preserve and protect important sites of the 460 million year old Chazy Fossil Reef located on Isle La Motte, and designated as a National Natural Landmark by the US Department of the Interior;
to promote scientific research and education at all levels with regard to the ancient reef and earth history;
to support efforts to conserve our local Natural Heritage including wildlife habitat, wetlands, and other natural areas, agricultural land and significant historic sites and structures;
to promote our local Cultural Heritage by sponsoring cultural and other public events;
to foster public awareness and understanding of issues pertaining to the environment and sustainability.
