Vermont DEC AIS Testing At LSC

The Vermont DEC will be at Lake St. Catherine on Monday, June 23rd and Tuesday, June 24th to perform tests as a follow up on the discovery of the half zebra mussel shell in the late fall of 2024, which you can read about here. This testing is part of an invasive crustacean and mollusk distribution project supported by the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP).

They will perform the following tests over these 2 days around the Fish & Wildlife Access Area boat launch in Wells, and at the State Park launch in Poultney:

• eDNA sampling for dreissenid (zebra & quagga) mussels (qPCR)
• 10 crayfish traps per site (sampling for rusty crayfish), set along a 50 m transect
• Timed search for additional mollusks and crustaceans
• Plankton net sampling for spiny waterflea and fishhook water flea

We thank the DEC and LCBP for their efforts in support of Lake St. Catherine!