CHINA -- The China Region Lakes Alliance is one of 14 successful applicants for state grants to assist with courtesy boat inspections.

The state Department of Environmental Protection awarded $3,000 to the group. The alliance and local lake associations, businesses and volunteers will provide matching funds and services, as required by the grant.

The inspections are to prevent the introduction of invasive plants such as milfoil and hydrilla into Maine lakes.

The China region group will do prelaunch inspections at boat landings on China Lake, Three Mile Pond and Webber Pond.

Alliance President David Landry said staff and volunteers did 793 inspections on China Lake and Three Mile Pond last year.

Peter Wilkens, a 2007 Erskine Academy graduate and current environmental science major at Wells College in Aurora, N.Y., manages the inspection program for the alliance.

Landry said many of the volunteer inspectors are Erskine students. He expects volunteers and staff will put in more than 2,200 hours between Memorial Day and Labor Day, mostly on weekends.

A shallow lake such as China Lake is especially vulnerable to milfoil and other invasive plants, Landry said.

Allowing the plants to get established could make much of the shore frontage unusable for recreation because of the solid mat of vegetation, he said.

According to information from the Department of Environmental Protection and from organizations dealing with invasive plants in Maine lakes, prevention is the least costly and most reliable method of protecting lakes.

The state estimates controlling invasive plants can cost up to $2,000 a year for each acre of lake surface; and complete eradication is considered nearly impossible.

This year, state money for matching grants to municipalities and organizations combating the spread of invasive plants was tripled, to $60,000. The maximum grant is $6,000. Landry said there were 37 applications for grants.

More volunteers are always welcome. Anyone who wants to learn more about the program or to train as a volunteer is invited to contact the alliance at lakesalliance@yahoo.com.