Opinion: DEC's Low-keyed Response to Aquatic Invasives

First appeared in the June 28, 2009 Sunday Gazette

Summer has come to the Adirondacks, and with it the anticipated flotilla of recreational boaters and fishing fleet, accessing our waterways through a dense network of public and private boat launches.

Joining this annual cavalcade, a horde of invading plants and marine animals: organisms with a proven record of destroying the lakes, ponds and streams they infest. Lake associations and other private organizations across the park are once again gearing up for another season of defense against the introduction of these dangerous pests. It is an expensive battle waged by volunteers and hired lake stewards at the waters’ edge, trying to inspect every boat and every trailer entering the water.
And as part of this new summer ritual, appeals to Albany for effective support have gone largely unheeded.
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