The Peru Gazette

Nathan Brault

Peru – A stop today at the Peru Dock along Route 9 yielded an interesting story. Nathan Brault, a 2016 Peru High School graduate and SUNY Canton engineering student, was there working at his summer job – discovering and removing invasive species on boats and trailers entering and leaving Lake Champlain. 

Nathan is employed by the Paul Smiths College Adirondack Watershed Institute. In 2018 New York State awarded the Institute a five-year $9.3 million grant to implement the Adirondack Park Aquatic Invasive Species Prevention Program. This summer fifty-eight lake stewards will be working at dozens of locations throughout the Adirondack Park. 

Nathan said inspections are voluntary and power washing is free of charge. He explained, “We usually find the species on trailers rather than the boats. They can also be found on fishing poles that have been used for shallow water fishing and on fish lines.”

While Nathan is concerned about invasive species entering Lake Champlain, he’s even more concerned about them leaving Lake Champlain. He explained, “Lake Champlain and Lake George are the only two lakes in the Adirondacks that have more than five invasive species. We want to keep these invasive species from spreading to the many pristine lakes in the Adirondack Park.” 

Nathan has an iPad to record data such as what body of water the fisherman has visited. When he detects an invasive species he records the names of the bodies of water the fisherman visited. He said bass fishing enthusiasts come from vast distances to fish Lake Champlain. They could be coming from Atlantic Ocean, the Hudson River, the St. Lawrence River and other waters. 

Nathan Brault loves this summer job at the Peru Boat Dock. He’s very aware that what he’s doing is important to our region’s ecology and economy.