Champlain Canal focus of lake invaders
Friday, October 31, 2008 at 10:27AM The Burlington Free Press reports that "key groups will hold a public meeting next month to discuss the role of the Champlain Canal in the introduction of invasive species to Lake Champlain." According to experts, "The movement of water and boats through the canal is a likely path by which some invasive species have reached the lake. The canal links Champlain with the Hudson River." Fifty invasive species have made Lake Champlain their home and have "altered the lake ecosystem and cost millions of dollars in control efforts." Those invaders include zebra mussels, Eurasian water milfoil, white perch, alewives and water chestnuts. Notably, the Lake "the is home to fewer invasive species than surrounding water bodies. In the Great Lakes, 184 invasives have been catalogued, 87 in the St. Lawrence River and 91 in the Hudson River."
