State awards grant to treat Amos Lake in Preston for invasive plant species

Yahoo

15-02-2025

Preston — The Amos Lake Association, Inc. has received a $20,000 state grant to continue its efforts to curtail hydrilla, an aggressive invasive aquatic weed, from taking hold and spreading in the lake.
The grant was one of 12 awarded Thursday by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, totaling $400,000 statewide through the agency's Aquatic Invasive Species grant program. The grants are aimed at reducing aquatic invasive species on inland waterways in Connecticut.
Amos Lake Association President Pat Monahan said this is the second time the association has received the invasive species grant. She said the association has raised the required local match of $7,676 through its golf tournaments at the Lake of Isles golf course.
First Selectwoman Sandra Allyn-Gauthier said the town had budgeted $800 this year to assist with the local match, but that will not be needed. Monahan thanked supporters and participants in the fundraisers.
'We want to protect the lake for future generations and for the health of the community,' she said.
Over the past two decades, the association has successfully battled invasive species in the 115-acre lake off Route 164 near the North Stonington town line. Each year, a crew from the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station's aquatics team surveys the lake and reports results. The association provides a narrative on its website, amoslake.com. A survey done in 2006 discovered Variable-Leaf Watermilfoil in seven acres of the lake and by 2018, it had spread to 11 acres.
The association received a DEEP invasive species grant in 2022 and successfully eradicated the milfoil using ProcellaCOR, described by the association as 'as a safe and targeted, systemic aquatic herbicide that goes to the root and gives a very complete kill of Milfoil species.'
After the two treatments, the association reported, 'no variable-leaf watermilfoil was found in the lake.'
But a survey in 2023 discovered hydrilla was the only invasive species in the lake near the boat launch. The association speculated it could have been transplanted from a boat that had been in the Connecticut River.
The association has posted a QR code on its website under the heading, 'Invasives,' and at the boat launch that leads to the General Benefit Corp.'s instruction sheet on how boaters can examine their boats for invasive species and clean them before launching in a new waterway.
'Invasive species, such as Hydrilla and Zebra Mussels, are a serious threat to freshwater ecosystems and outdoor recreation,' DEEP wrote in a news release announcing the grants. 'Invasive species can negatively affect native plants and animals, and the dense mats formed by invasive aquatic plants can seriously hamper boating, fishing, and swimming.'
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