Volunteers Learn About Aquatic Invasive Species with LCC

In 2023, LCC started the Champlain Aquatic invasive Monitoring Program, aka CHAMP. Through this program, we train, support, and empower community scientists from all around Lake Champlain to identify and survey for aquatic invasive species, or AIS. In 2024, a CHAMP volunteer made the first discovery of a new invasive species in Lake Champlain: the golden clam (Corbicula fluminea). As CHAMP enters its third season, we have grown from seven to over 30 volunteers, covering dozens of sites. 

After hosting an online training, LCC Education and Outreach Associate Eileen Fitzgerald took to the road on a CHAMP training tour, from the lake’s southernmost point in Whitehall, NY all the way up to its northern reaches in Missisquoi Bay. The goal was to meet volunteers near the spots they plan to survey and to give a hands-on introduction to the species they’ll be looking for. 

Traveling with a cooler full of specimens – some pressed and laminated, others preserved in formaldehyde, and a few live specimens for good measure – Eileen “got into the weeds” of aquatic plant identification. What is the difference between invasive Eurasian watermilfoil and native watermilfoil? How do you differentiate common waterweed from invasive Brazilian waterweed and invasive hydrilla? How can you distinguish invasive curly-leaf pondweed from the 32 native pondweeds found in New York? With examples of the AIS and their common look-alikes, Eileen discussed how the number of leaflets and reddish coloring sets apart Eurasian watermilfoil, how common waterweed has whorls of three leaves as opposed to four to six, and how curly-leaf pondweed is uniquely, well, curly. 

Volunteers then practiced their AIS rake throws, an Olympic event for the environmentally conscience lake-goer. A MacGyver’ed contraption consisting of two rake heads zip-tied together and attached to a 25-foot length of rope, the AIS rake enables volunteers to collect aquatic species from the lake and bring them to shore. Some rake tosses produced giant mats of muck and plants, while others yielded only a few tiny fragments of stems. Whatever the results, Eileen and the volunteers picked through the rake tosses and put the group’s AIS identification skills to the test. CHAMP volunteers will be surveying from July to September, checking their sites for AIS known to exist in Lake Champlain as well as species on our “watchlist” -- potential invaders that are not known to be in Lake Champlain, but are established in nearby waterbodies. 

Interested in learning more about AIS in Lake Champlain? Check out our recently published Aquatic Invasive Species Identification Cards and contact us if you’re interested in physical copies. If you'd like to join CHAMP this year as a volunteer, you can sign up here.