The Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program (APIPP) is offering a series of free training sessions to help protect Adirondack woods and waters from the harmful impacts of invasive species this summer. These workshops are open to the public.

Participants can learn to identify, survey for and manage invasive species currently threatening the Adirondack region, such as Japanese knotweed and Eurasian watermilfoil, as well as those that pose significant risk to the region, but have not yet arrived, such as hydrilla and mile-a-minute weed.

The aquatic invasive species training followed by an iMapInvasives training, are scheduled for June 19, and will equip citizen scientists with information on how to identify and report infestations to a statewide database. The summaries below, grouped by type, provide an overview of the events available from May through August.

Terrestrial Invasive Plant Trainings:

Recommended for landowners, gardeners, landscapers, and highway department staff. Continuing education credits available for New York State pesticide applicators as well as forestry, nursery, and landscape professionals.

Identification & Surveillance
Tuesday, July 11 (10 am to 2 pm) Congregational Church, 3199 Main St, Willsboro.

Identification & Management
Tuesday, July 18 (10 am to 2 pm) – Northville Public Library, 341 S 3rd St, Northville.
Wednesday, July 19 (10 am to 1 pm) – Wead Library of Malone, 64 Elm St, Malone.

Aquatic Invasive Species Trainings:
Recommended for lake association members, boaters, paddlers, and anglers. Participants will also learn about volunteer opportunities to survey specific lakes and ponds for aquatic invasive species to add to APIPP’s region-wide database.

Aquatic Invasive Plant Identification and Surveillance
Monday, June 19 (10 am to 2 pm) – Darrin Freshwater Institute, 5060 Lake Shore Drive, Bolton Landing.
Thursday, June 22 (10 am to 2 pm) – Adirondack Room in Paul Smith’s College, 7777 NY-30, Paul Smiths.
Tuesday, June 27 (10 am to 2 pm) – Volunteer Fire Department, 3454 NY-28, Blue Mountain Lake.

Aquatic Invasive Animal Identification and Surveillance
Tuesday, August 8th (1 pm to 4 pm) – Piseco Common School , 1722 NY-8, Piseco.

Backcountry Waters Monitoring (in collaboration with the Adirondack Mountain Club)
Monday, July 10th (10 am to 3 pm) – Heart Lake Program Center, 1002 Adirondack Loj Rd, Lake Placid.
Friday, August 4 (10 am to 4 pm) – Lake George Land Conservancy Macionis Family Center for Conservation, 4905 Lake Shore Dr, Bolton Landing.

To register for any of the scheduled trainings, contact APIPP’s Seasonal Educator Emily Pomeroy at emily.pomeroy@tnc.org or call (518) 576-2082 ext. 120. For more information, click here.

Photo: Volunteers are shown how to complete survey data sheets to contribute to a region-wide lake monitoring program led by APIPP’s Aquatic Invasive Species Program Coordinator Erin Vennie-Vollrath, provided.