Erie, PA – Presque Isle State Park will be conducting invasive plant species treatments in areas that are not able to be reached for treatment by land or boat. These treatments will involve an herbicide mixture being sprayed from a helicopter onto large tracts of invasive plants in several remote areas of the park. The park will be closed to the public during the spraying operation for park visitor safety due to low flying aircraft. The treatments will only take place when the wind and weather conditions are within safe permitted allowances.
The park has held two dates for possible spraying: September 24 and 25. Once the conditions are right, spraying will begin and should not take longer than 8 hours to complete. This could be on one or two days depending on daily weather conditions. The park will open as soon as operations are concluded. An informational sign board will be located near the Tom Ridge Environmental Center entrance on Peninsula Drive with current opening and closing information.
Funding for the invasive species control at Presque Isle State Park is provided by a Sustain Our Great Lakes Grant, in partnership with Ducks Unlimited, The Regional Science Consortium, Go Native Erie, and Erie Bird Observatory, and Environment Erie.
For more information about this, or other programs, please call the Tom Ridge Environmental Center (TREC) at (814)-833-7424. The park office is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. The park is open daily from sunrise to sunset for hiking and other environmentally-related activities.
