Clean-up money earmarked for Lake Champlain

BURLINGTON, Vt. -- Programs to rid Lake Champlain of aquatic nuisances will get a boost thanks to nearly $1.4 million included in the just-passed federal budget.

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The money will be used for everything from fighting sea lamprey, to controlling water chestnut and Eurasian milfoil to lessening the environmental damage inflicted by double-crested cormorants.

Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, helped secure the funding.

"This kind of funding for the lake is phenomenally good," said Bill Howland, manager of the Lake Champlain Basin Program.

A total of $845,000 is set aside for sea lamprey control. The eel-like, blood-sucking fish parasite -- have taken a toll on populations of fish in Lake Champlain, including native trout and salmon.

David Tilton, head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife's Lake Champlain office, said that money will be used in 2005 to purchase lamprey-killing pesticides that will be applied to Lake Champlain tributaries in 2006. In addition, Tilton said, some of that money could be used to build a lamprey barrier on a Champlain tributary in Quebec.

Four Lake Champlain tributaries -- including the Winooski River -- were treated with the chemicals this fall, killing an estimated 800,000 young lamprey. This year's project was largely federally funded.

"We need to retain a long-term commitment to a strong and ongoing sea lamprey control program, which is essential to the $200 million Champlain fishery," Leahy said in a news release.

Leahy also helped secure $400,000 to be used by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation to battle invasive plants such as water chestnuts and Eurasian milfoil that choke waterways and muscle out native water plants. Some of that money will help finance mechanical harvesting efforts, particularly in southern reaches of the lake.

An additional $100,000 was included in the budget for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's wildlife services division to monitor and control populations of cormorants on Lake Champlain. The fish-eating birds have wrecked local habitats on several Champlain islands.

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Information from: The Burlington Free Press, http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com