Vermont Agency of Natural Resources issued the following announcement on March30.
Beach pea (Lathyrus japonicus maritimus) is one of the plants growing on the shores of Lake Champlain that is starting to display some concerning population trends related to climate change. The Lake Champlain region has seen dramatic increases in summer flooding in the last 15 years and beach peas are only adapted to being in the lake waters during winter.
Ready to learn more? South Hero Land Trust is hosting TOMORROW a panel presentation and Q&A session about the impacts of climate change on our region and community-level mitigation and adaptation strategies. Our very own Aaron Marcus, botanist with Vermont Fish & Wildlife, will lend their expertise to the panel! The link to attend on Wednesday is below.
P.S. Elsewhere, the pea-like fruits are edible — but you shouldn’t do that in Vermont where these Champlain Sea sand dune relict plants are a threatened species!
https://www.shlt.org/…/winter-wednesday-speaker-series…
A photo of beach peas on Lake Champlain. Several delicate magenta and purple flowers are large in the foreground of the photo, and the background fades to lush green and blue, sunny sky.
Original source can be found here.
