The condition of the lake remains good for another year.
The focus of the Crystal Lake preservation Association (CLPA) has been in three areas. Our greeter program, the diver’s surveys with focused areas of plant harvesting and harvesting in the shallow areas in the outlet of the lake. There has also been some additional public education.
Our greeter program remains the mainstay for preventing incursion of invasive species. We had greeters at the State of Vermont boat launch from 6 am to 6pm daily from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend. We extended the program for one additional weekend in September. There were 11 interceptions of plant material on boats or trailers during the year of which 3 were Eurasian milfoil. Andy Treiber coordinated the Greeter program. The greeters were paid $9/ hour for a total of $11,991.79. Two greeters attended State run training and were paid $120.03. Andy was paid $750 to coordinate.
Our divers this year were from AE Diving in Manchester Center. They were in the lake twice during the season. In July, they surveyed the south end of the lake and removed 9 plants. In August, they did a full survey of the lake and did some hand pulling at the outlet and removed approximately 9 gallons of Eurasian milfoil. The situation with Eurasian milfoil remains stable with 2 small groups of plants at the south end of the lake which is identifiable by GPS coordinates. Otherwise, the lake itself remains free of invasive species. Diver costs for the year were $2,256.25.
The situation at the outlet of the lake at the north end remains a big concern. Eurasian milfoil is firmly established and we started a program of harvesting this area several years ago which we are continuing to do.
Crystal Lake Preservation Assoc. relies on the generous donations to fight and educate people about the Eurasian Milfoil invasion.
$20, $50, $100..