Conservation Law Foundation Hires Journalist as Lakekeeper
A quick update to a brief item in "Fair Game" this week: Louis Porter, the bureau chief of the Vermont Press Bureau, has been named the Lake Champlain Lakekeeper at the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF).
His job change is effective December 1.
The bureau covers the Vermont State House and state government for the Rutland Herald and the Barre Montpelier Times-Argus newspapers.
As lakekeeper, Porter will "advocate for the restoration and protection of Lake Champlain and the rivers, streams, and landscapes that drain to the Lake from Vermont, New York, and Quebec," CLF officials noted in a news release issued late Wednesday.
“Louis has reported on virtually all aspects of life in the Champlain region,” said Christopher Kilian, vice president and director of CLF Vermont. “He has the skills to raise awareness of the lake’s problems, bring stakeholders together around urgently-needed clean water solutions, and investigate and publicize water pollution sources.”
Porter will work with government officials, citizens, businesses, farmers and others concerned about Lake Champlain and will investigate sources of pollution flowing into the lake and its watershed. CLF’s Lakekeeper, a role established in 2001, is part of the Waterkeeper Alliance, an international network of more than 200 clean water advocates founded by environmental attorney Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
“As the Lakekeeper, my role will be to help the residents of the Champlain region to protect their right to clean and healthy waterways that are safe for drinking, swimming, fishing, and boating,” said Porter. "I am tremendously excited to join CLF and others working on these vital issues.”
Since beginning his career as a journalist more than 10 years ago, Porter has written as a staff reporter or freelance writer for a variety of publications including The Advocate, a daily newspaper in Stamford, CT, Discover Magazine and The Boston Globe.
A Calais native, Porter has been a commercial fishing deckhand, done undergraduate biological research about ants and been a sculptor’s apprentice, among other jobs. He graduated in 2000 from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Science in Zoology and a Bachelor of Arts in Comparative History of Ideas.
Founded, in 1966, CLF is a nonprofit, member-supported organization with offices in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont.
I think Porter may have also seen the writing on the wall, the 'Paywall' that is. Recently implemented at the Herald and Times Argus - that wall assures that readership, especially with fickle online readers like myself, means lost revenue, instead of gains, of a group already struggling to reach readers.
Posted by: Mel | November 12, 2010 at 06:52 PM