(Provided photo)

SARANAC LAKE — The fourth annual Adirondack Water Week, organized by Paul Smith’s College Adirondack Watershed Institute, was held the first week in August and highlighted organizations, partners, and communities taking efforts to protect clean water through education, outreach volunteer projects and community planning.

The week included more than a dozen events and programs that took place throughout the Adirondack Park. The festivities culminated with AWI’s 30th Anniversary Sips and Science celebration at the Hotel Saranac, where AWI Executive Director Zoe Smith presented Friends of Moody Pond board members with the Adirondack Watershed Award for the organization’s “outstanding grass-roots efforts to preserve and protect Moody Pond.”

“We’re honored to be the recipient of the Adirondack Watershed Institute’s Adirondack Watershed Award,” FMP Vice President Jay Federman said. “We’re extremely fortunate to have a dedicated, talented and focused group of community members, coupled with a very supportive community, that makes it possible for us to mitigate — and we hope ultimately to eradicate — Eurasian watermilfoil from Moody Pond.

“Once this invasive species is well under control, we will focus more intently on maintaining good water quality and a healthy, attractive, surrounding environment for the pond,” Federman added.

The Lake Champlain Basin Program recently awarded Friends of Moody Pond with a $10,000 Aquatic Invasive Species Management and Spread Prevention Support Grant.

“The project will support an intensive two-year harvest of Eurasian watermilfoil from Moody Pond to enable a transition to minimal maintenance and prevention activities for the long-run,” said FMP President Heidi Kretser, who submitted the grant application. “At this point, our efforts to reduce the presence of EWM are successful, but continuing progress and maintaining control of an invasive species like this one requires long-term diligence. We aim to eradicate EWM from Moody Pond, defined as a waterbody being EWM-free for three years. As the AIS divers are still finding hundreds of small plants, we’ll extend our removal efforts for a minimum of several more years. We’ll also increase our education and outreach efforts to help reduce AIS introduction and spread. Ultimately, we will always have to keep watch for this and other invasives, as early identification is key to maintaining a healthy ecosystem.”

For more information, visit friendsofmoodypond.org.