APIPP gives volunteer recognition award to Eagle Lake Property Owners, Inc. for Eurasian water-milfoil efforts

KEENE VALLEY – Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program (APIPP) staff awarded the Eagle Lake Property Owners, Inc. with a volunteer recognition award during the annual Adirondack PRISM Partner Meeting on Dec. 4.

The award is given to individuals and organizations that have made a strong effort to monitor, report, or manage invasive species in the Adirondacks.

“Protecting Adirondack waters and forests from the worst impacts of invasive species really takes committed people who are invested in their communities and willing to step up and work closely with APIPP,” said APIPP Program Director Brian Greene. “We are thrilled to recognize the Eagle Lake Property Owners, Inc for their dedication and success.”

Susan Clark has lived on Eagle Lake for eight years. She said she felt compelled to act when the bay that borders her property became completely overtaken by Eurasian water-milfoil, an aquatic invasive species that is extremely difficult to remove once established.

Clark emailed Greene, who was APIPP’s aquatic invasive species coordinator prior to his role as program director, to ask for help dealing with the invasive plant.

That email marked the beginning of a two-and-a-half-year effort to control Eurasian water-milfoil in the lake, and Clark moved fast. She began by educating her neighbors about invasive species and convincing them that something could be done about a problem that the community once thought was hopeless.

“Brian’s guidance through the whole process was incredible: the support, knowledge, information provided, and an unbiased opinion on the Adirondack professionals and treatment was and still is invaluable,” Clark said. “We are so grateful that we started in the correct place. APIPP is wonderful and scientifically at the top of their game.”

Clark then wrote a grant in 2023 to pay for an aquatic invasive species management plan for the lake, which was completed in March 2025. Next, they acquired permits to chemically treat Eurasian water-milfoil, and raised another $50,000 to pay for the treatment, which took place in June 2025.

Now, after two years of monitoring for Eurasian water-milfoil through APIPP’s Lake Management Tracker Program, Clark said the results have been nothing short of amazing. She is now the treasurer for Eagle Lake Property Owners, Inc and she is the chairperson for that organization’s invasive species committee.

“In the section of the lake we treated, the northeast side, we got rid of all the milfoil that we treated, that we’re aware of. It’s spectacular,” Clark said. “Next year we want to treat the southwest side, which is a much smaller piece.”

Lake Management Tracker volunteers are groups of people, usually those in lake associations, trained by APIPP staff on how to monitor the effectiveness of invasive species management projects in a lake. In 2025, seven lake associations participated in the program. This program empowers local communities and allows them to better manage invasive plants in their lakes.

“Eagle Lake Property Owners, Inc. are a great example of an organization working together to tackle an invasive species challenge,” Greene said. “They show that a dedicated and engaged group with good monitoring and the resources to enact management can be successful in suppressing invasive plants like Eurasian water-milfoil.”