ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain facts for kids
ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain
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| Established | 2003 |
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| Location | 1 College Street Burlington, Vermont |
| Type | Science Center |
| Visitors | 170,000 |
ECHO, Leahy Center for Lake Champlain is a super cool science and nature museum. It's located right on the waterfront in Burlington, Vermont. This center is a fantastic place to learn all about Lake Champlain and the amazing creatures that live in and around it!
Discover ECHO!
ECHO is home to more than 70 different kinds of animals. You can see fish, amphibians (like frogs), invertebrates (like snails), and reptiles (like turtles). The museum also has exciting traveling exhibits and a special 3D Theater. ECHO's main goal is to help families discover the fun of science. They want to inspire wonder about nature and teach everyone how to care for Lake Champlain.
What You'll See and Do
This museum opened its doors in 2003. Since then, it has offered daily animal encounters and hands-on activities. These activities are both educational and fun for the whole family. The area where ECHO is located is called the Patrick and Marcelle Leahy Center for Lake Champlain. It's a 2.2-acre (8,900 m2) campus. This name honors Senator Patrick Leahy for his strong dedication to protecting the Lake Champlain area. The Leahy Center also hosts parts of the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. You can also find the Lake Champlain Basin Program Resource Room and the Lake Champlain Navy Memorial here.
A Green Building
ECHO's building is very special because it's Vermont’s first "LEED certified Green Building." LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It means the building was designed and built to be very good for the environment. It's the only lake aquarium in the United States with this important certification. This makes ECHO one of the first certified green buildings in New England. In 2018, the largest solar canopy in Vermont was built right on site. This canopy helps the building get its energy from the sun!
The Meaning Behind the Name
The name ECHO originally stood for something very specific. It was chosen to represent educating and delighting people of all ages about the Ecology, Culture, History, and Opportunities for stewardship of the Lake Champlain Basin. This means learning about how living things interact with their environment (Ecology), the ways of life of people in the area (Culture), the past events of the region (History), and the chances we have to protect and care for the lake (Opportunities for stewardship).
