UCONN Natural Resources Conservation Academy 

Annually UCONN in Storrs has a Natural Resources Conservation Academy for high school students across Connecticut. In the fall of 2019 the CLA had the fortune of having Luv Kateria, a local Ellington resident, attend the program and selected do do his project on invasive species at Crystal Lake. Rex Joffray was Luv's coordinator with over site provided by Dave Arzt.

As part of his project Luv explored the impact of invasive aquatic plant species on Crystal Lake by doing both Field work and Research.

Field work included hand pulling samples of Milfoil, Mud-Mat, Pond weed, and other plants from around the lake. Luv did research from the New England Aquatic Research reports and other material he found on the web. A survey about the knowledge of and handling of Invasive Plants were sent out to the CLA membership. At the completion of his project he created a Invasive plant Brochure (see below). The 23 Conservation Ambassadors were scheduled to speak at the annual Connecticut Conference on Natural Resources &
Connecticut Outdoor and Environmental Education Association and show their projects at the annual conference but do to the COVID-19 the conference was canceled. The Ambassadors all had a chance to speak about their project on an online webinar in April 2020.

To learn more about the Natural Resource Conservation Academy, click here