Funding earmarked for Lake Champlain

November 25, 2004|Associated Press

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

The money will be used for fighting sea lamprey, controlling water chestnuts and Eurasian milfoil, and lessening the environmental damage inflicted by double-crested cormorants. Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, 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 US 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 were treated with the chemicals this fall, killing an estimated 800,000 young lamprey.