Good morning LSC - we wanted to post a quick update to thank our volunteers: Donna, Mary, Lisa, and Gloria - for joining us for the first VIP Paddle of the season.

The VIP program was established by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in 2007 to focus on early detection of all known and potential aquatic invasive species (AIS) before they can become established in a waterbody.

At 9 AM on Saturday, we met at the boat launch in Wells to perform a Vermont Invasive Patrollers paddle to look for invasive species.

We did not discover any new invasive species, but we did see examples of existing invasives: eurasian watermilfoil, curly-leaf pondweed, and some purple loosestrife on the shoreline.

We also observed and identified a number of our native plants like american eel grass, pickerel weed, robbins pondweed, illinois pondweed, ribbon-leaf pondweed, and broad-leaf pondweed, among others.

We'll fill out and submit a VIP report for this paddle to the DEC this week. We are also planning for another paddle in late August / early September that will take place near the State Park. If you'd be interested in participating, let us know!

You can read more about the VIP Program here on our website: https://lakestcatherine.org/vermont-invasive-patrollers

Thanks to our volunteers - we hope you enjoyed the paddle!