Supports Governor Hochul’s Initiative to Plant 25 Million Trees by 2033 

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Amanda Lefton today announced more than $5.1 million to reduce the negative impacts of aquatic and terrestrial invasive species on natural resources, infrastructure, agriculture, and local economies. The 51 awarded projects will strengthen prevention, early detection, rapid response, management, and restoration efforts statewide, supporting long-term ecosystem health, economic stability, and community wellbeing. 

“Managing invasive species and mitigating their negative impacts to our lands and waters is essential to the environment, public health, and quality of life,” said Commissioner Lefton. “Investing in science-based management and strong local partnerships is strengthening New York’s efforts to combat invasive species, protect biodiversity, build more resilient ecosystems, and protect our forests, waters, farms, and communities.” 

Projects are spread across four categories:

• $467,810 for 6 aquatic invasive species (AIS) spread prevention or boat decontamination projects that will use boat stewards and/or decontamination equipment at boat launches and along travel corridors to educate boaters and intercept AIS before watercraft are launched into new waterbodies.
• $1,664,197 for 18 invasive species early detection/rapid response and control (terrestrial and aquatic) projects to support the removal of invasive species through physical and mechanical removal, chemical treatments, and biocontrol release.
• $699,142 for 8 invasive species research projects to help improve invasive species control methodologies.
• $2,286,727 for 19 invasive species restoration and resiliency projects to facilitate native plant recovery, restore habitat structure, and implement measures to enhance ecosystem resiliency. 

Awarded projects by region include: 

CAPITAL REGION

Albany County

• The Research Foundation for the State University of New York at the University at Albany: $192,537––Project will focus on new methods to develop genetic detection techniques for Tier 1 and Tier 2 invasive species. 

Columbia County

• Town of Chatham: $41,250–– Project will focus on removing a stand of phragmites that is rapidly encircling a public pond and restoring a once flourishing and diverse native habitat. 

Rensselaer County

• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: $86,573––Project will focus on the development of a tool to improve the efficiency of AIS detection at boat wash and inspection stations. 

Saratoga County 

• Town of Ballston: $27,375––Project will address infestations of hemlock woolly adelgid in Anchor Diamond Park, a 246-acre town forest. 

Schenectady County 

• Town of Glenville: $19,005––A climate-resilient replanting initiative to address tree loss caused by the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid in the town-owned Hemlock Hollow Park.  

Warren County 

• Warren County Soil & Water Conservation District: $105,523––Project will focus on protecting the Lake George watershed from the impacts of hemlock woolly adelgid.  

CENTRAL NEW YORK 

Cortland County 

• Cortland County Soil & Water Conservation District: $79,569––Project will support a regional AIS Spread Prevention (boat stewards) Program. 

Onondaga County 

• Syracuse University: $249,998––Project will focus on restoring the White Lake wetland complex in Central New York from the impacts of phragmites.  

Oswego County 

• Oswego County Soil & Water District: $15,701––Project will involve monitoring for and controlling hemlock woolly adelgid to protect the threatened eastern hemlock at Independence Park and Camp Hollis. 

FINGER LAKES 

Wayne County 

• Wayne County Soil & Water Conservation District: $175,125––Project will fund the purchase of a mechanical aquatic vegetation harvester with trailer, dump trailer, and shore conveyor. 

Monroe County 

• Rush Recreation: $31,009–– Project will involve planting native shrubs and perennial plants over a period of three years, followed by maintenance and monitoring for several invasive plants including mugwort, multiflora rose, purple loosestrife, and common buckthorn.  

Yates County 

• Keuka Lake Association Inc.: $105,175––Project will focus on surveying, delineating, and controlling fanwort infestations in Keuka Lake. 

LONG ISLAND 

Nassau County 

• Nassau County Soil & Water District: $248,372––Project will focus on managing invasive species and restoring native habitats in natural areas across the County’s three townships with the goal of improving ecological function where invasive plants have degraded habitat quality and reduced long-term ecosystem stability. 

Suffolk County 

• Niamuck Land Trust Inc.: $96,000––Project will restore and enhance ecological resiliency at the Sugarloaf and Sillerman Preserves, both sacred sites for the Shinnecock community that have been impacted by invasive species, by reestablishing native vegetation and implementing resiliency practices to prevent reinvasion. 

• Save the Great South Bay: $65,750––Project will support an AIS Outreach, Education, and Voluntary Watercraft Inspection Program at up to nine high-priority, publicly owned boat launches.  

• Southampton Township Wildfowl Association Inc.: $224,869––Project is part of a multi-year restoration effort to correct ecological damage caused by the invasive southern pine beetle at the Quogue Wildlife Refuge.  

• The Research Foundation for the State University of New York at Stony Brook: $176,954––Project will integrate automated lake-survey tools to increase detection efficiency and spatial coverage, and advances control and long-term suppression of AIS through a mathematically informed management framework to improve the mechanical and hand harvesting of aquatic invasive plants.  

• The Research Foundation for the State University of New York at Stony Brook: $95,615––Project will involve collaboration with the Shinnecock Nation to map invasive tree species present on, or likely to encroach upon, Shinnecock tribal lands.  

MID-HUDSON 

Dutchess County 

• Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail Inc.: $67,022––Project will restore heavily degraded forest structure in Hudson Highlands State Park which is currently dominated by mugwort. 

Orange County 

• Appalachian Trail Conservancy: $60,000––Project will enhance the ecosystem resiliency of the hemlock-northern hardwood forest along the Appalachian Trail on Bellvale Mountain which is currently impacted by hemlock wooly adelgid.  

• City of Middletown: $88,530––Project involves the mechanical and manual removal of invasive water chestnut to reduce existing dense growth and prevent further expansion within the project area. 

• Town of Montgomery: $136,620––Project will include the restoration of native habitat and reduction of invasive species impacts at Benedict Farm Park and Riverfront Park through phased removal, replanting, and long-term stewardship. 

• Village of Walden: $11,000––Project will focus on rapid response efforts to control approximately 0.4 acres of Japanese knotweed at Micky Millspaugh Park. 

Putnam County  

• National Audubon Society: $25,613––Project will focus on the eradication of common reed in Constitution Marsh and Ramshorn-Livingston Audubon sanctuaries. 

Ulster County 

• New York City Department of Environmental Protection: $56,000––Project will research and investigate the effective control and prevention of mile-a-minute in Napanoch. 

• Town of Shawangunk: $27,915––Project will include the execution of baseline survey and mapping services to identify invasive species on the Shawangunk-Wallkill Rail Trail, Shawangunk Highway Department Garage, Galeville Park, and Verkeerderkill Park. 

Westchester County 

• Bedford Audubon Society: $40,819––Project will focus on controlling invasive vegetation at targeted sites and reestablishing diverse native plant communities.  

• Friends of Kensico Cemetery: $230,000––Project will include invasive species management and reforestation actions to restore a degraded wetland and stream habitat in the central portion of Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla.  

• Pace University: $55,685––Project will focus on studying the relationship between forest decline and the spread of invasive plants and examine the influence of hemlock wooly adelgid and beech leaf disease on the establishment of newly introduced invasive species.  

• Village of Mount Kisco: $250,000––Project will focus on restoring a high-priority ecological area along a segment of the Kisco River within Leonard Park, which is heavily impacted by invasive species, including multiflora rose, Japanese knotweed, Japanese stiltgrass, Asiatic bittersweet, and mugwort.  

• Westchester Parks Foundation: $173,561––Project will fund the purchase of an aquatic Eco-Harvester and trailer that will be used at parks to address water chestnut and Eurasian milfoil infestations. 

MOHAWK VALLEY

Fulton County 

• Town of Caroga: $65,000––Project will help expand a regional hot pressure washer decontamination and inspection program to help prevent the spread of AIS present in area lakes.  

Oneida County 

• Town of Forestport: $45,000––Project will provide staffing for a seasonal Aquatic Invasive Species and Decontamination Station.  

Otsego County 

• Canadarago Lake Association: $100,000––Project will provide staff for the Canadarago Lake Steward program for two years, ensuring boaters do not spread AIS.  

MULTI-COUNTY 

• New York New Jersey Trail Conference: $157,820––Project will leverage the conservation detection dog methodology to search for high-priority invasive species in the Lower Hudson Valley.  

NEW YORK CITY 

Bronx County 

• Bronx River Alliance: $247,500––Project will focus on detection, response and control of fumewort in the Bronx River Forest. 

• The New York Botanical Garden: $64,587––Project will focus on analyzing spatial and temporal trends in invasion success across stages of the invasion process, leveraging the cultivated and natural landscapes of the New York Botanical Garden. 

• Woodlawn Conservancy: $61,884––Project will focus on removing invasive trees, shrubs, and vines from nine plots of the Woodlawn Cemetery. 

Kings County 

• The Green-Wood Cemetery: $25,940––Project will focus on combating beech leaf disease through a three-year root zone inoculation program. 

Queens County 

• Rockaway Waterfront Alliance: $100,000––Project will train and provide seasonal employment for 30 local low-income residents, ages 18-55, who will take part in manual invasive plant removal and long-term monitoring of a 5-acre stretch of upland dunes. 

• Udalls Cove Preservation Committee Inc.: $125,000––Project will help eliminate or dramatically reduce several invasive species that dominate this site. The area will be replanted using appropriate indigenous trees, shrubs, and groundcover. 

NORTH COUNTRY 

Essex County 

• Paradox Lake Association: $112,491––Project will utilize boat stewards for a spread prevention initiative targeting the region's highest risk entry points for AIS.  

Franklin County 

• Town of Tupper Lake: $75,000––Project will involve treating terrestrial invasive plants, primarily Japanese knotweed, at more than 130 sites on private properties in the Adirondacks. 

• Upper Saranac Lake Foundation: $81,026––Project will focus on re-establishing native submerged aquatic vegetation in Follensby Pond to restore ecological function, stabilize sediment, and increase resiliency to protect against re-infestation by invasive macrophytes.  

• Upper Saranac Lake Foundation: $61,496––Project will advance the Upper Saranac Foundation's ongoing efforts to remove, control, and prevent the spread of Eurasian and variable-leaf watermilfoil within DEC’s Fish Creek Public Campground.  

Jefferson County 

• City of Watertown: $80,000––Project will involve continued invasive species control in conjunction with the restoration of site habitats by planting tree and shrub seedlings and wildflower seeds.  

SOUTHERN TIER

Tioga County 

• Tioga County Soil & Water Conservation District: $207,650––Project will restore 64.37 acres of degraded riparian and upland forest in New York’s Chesapeake Bay watershed by coordinating new plantings on 9.3 acres and providing adaptive management, including invasive species control and replanting, on an additional 53.37 acres.  

WESTERN NY 

Erie County 

• The Research Foundation for the State of New York at Buffalo State Comprehensive College: $105,332 ––Project will focus on isolating attraction compounds used by male red swamp crayfish to improve trapping success.  

• Village of Williamsville: $30,000––Project will map and control tree-of-heaven as a proactive measure to help prevent the establishment of spotted lanternfly in Glen Park.  

Chautauqua County 

• Chautauqua Lake Partnership Inc.: $42,813––Project will focus on evaluating potential ecological trends and thresholds to inform optimized management strategies for invasive species at Chautauqua Lake.  

Niagara County 

• Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper Inc: $70,172––Project will restore more than 1,500 linear feet of shoreline and 2.3 acres of riparian and upland habitat by removing invasive species and replanting with native shrubs and plants along Tonawanda Creek.  

The grants announced today are supported by the State's Environmental Protection Fund (EPF). Governor Hochul’s 2026–27 Executive Budget proposes a record $425 million for the EPF, a critical resource for environmental programs such as land acquisition, farmland protection, invasive species prevention and eradication, recreation access, water quality improvement, and environmental justice projects. 

The Invasive Species Grant Program is administered by the Bureau of Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health in DEC's Division of Lands and Forests. For more information, please visit DEC's website.