The pollinator friendly habitat below Lakebone is designed and installed by Bee the Change. With grasses and flowers the sidewalk comes alive and buzzing with pollinators. This restoration of the hardscape of the streets of Burlington is an important part of the stormwater mitigation by becoming a rain garden with long perennial roots.

Lakebone tells two stories that connects Burlington’s past and future through the story of wood, water, and healthy ecosystems across the landscape. The work references the city’s long history as a lumber and rail hub while also drawing attention to the ecological importance of forests, floodplains, and watershed stewardship throughout the Lake Champlain Basin.  Today, the health of Lake Champlain depends in large part on continued restoration and protection of riparian and floodplain forests, sustainable land management, and stormwater mitigation efforts. Living trees and dead wood along and within rivers and Lake Champlain’s shorelines creates habitat, slows erosion, and improves water quality throughout the watershed.

Lakebone reminds us that the future of Burlington and Lake Champlain depends on learning from the past and  is inseparable from the health of the forests, rivers, and ecosystems that connect us all.

By returning a tree to the city by rail, the artist poetically reverses the historic flow of timber out of Burlington at the turn of the last century. When completed, the work will be suspended above a pollinator meadow designed in collaboration with Bee the Change, and will invite viewers to reflect on the interconnected systems that sustain both urban and natural environments.

As part of Nancy Winship Milliken Studio, Creative Conservation Collaborative, (CCC) celebrates art and environmental conservation with the goal of creating site-specific, nature-centric art that increases awareness and support for the surrounding landscape.
With the belief that art can change our ways of seeing the environment, we work with communities to create sustainable sculptural installations and landscape restoration that re-connects viewers to local natural environments. We work with local environmental organizations to engage the community

We have chosen two environmental organizations to partner with Lakebone.

Please click the links below and check out these environmentally important Vermont organizations