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This week is NYS’s 8th annual Invasive Species Awareness Week and we’ve got aquatic invasives on our mind. In light of the current law expiring, here’s an excerpt from Explorer reporter Gwen Craig’s recent story:
“The old law in question requires boaters recreating in the Adirondack Park to take reasonable precautions against spreading aquatic invasive species like Eurasian watermilfoil and zebra mussels. Boats should be cleaned, drained and dried to prevent spreading any unwanted hitchhikers. The Adirondack Park is home to more than 3,000 lakes, 8,000 ponds and 1,500 miles of rivers. With more than 12 million visitors each year, the threat of a new invasive species introduction is always looming.”
What are your thoughts about best ways to keep our waterways safe from invasives? Should the state require — and enforce — boat inspections? Or is the current system working well enough?
Photo provided, Connor Vara/Adirondack Watershed Institute. AWI stewards recently finished a 2-week training at Paul Smith’s College to learn techniques for implementing Clean, Drain and Dry at area boat launches.
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should be required, there always a few jerks who will not do the right thing and once that invasive is introduced, theres no capping the genie back in the bottle
Require and enforce. I’m a boat owner.
Ah – the price we pay for cheap goods and international trade. Elms, chestnuts, ash, hemlock, and now water. “Modern America” was literally built on these species and in a century they are either gone or on their way out. The citizens and ecology pay the price, the shippers and manufacturers make the money. Politicians take their cash.
How many invasive species have we ever controlled? Once they are here, taxpayers pay the price to “control”, and the offenders that brought them here continue without consequence. Boat inspections – mandatory or not – will not keep these species from ultimately spreading. Even if boat inspection were 100% effective, there are many other methods of transport into pristine waters and delicate ecosystems. May buy us a little time though.
This reminds me of the plastics industry pushed by petrochemical companies. Create a cheap product that can rarely be recycled, then place the onus on consumers to RECYCLE. I believe only about 10% ever gets recycled and the remainder we pay to ship around the world to whoever will burn it, landfill it – or simply dump it in the ocean. Big Oil gets richer and blames the problem on everyone else – with no liability – while politicians take their money.
Biodiversity is our strength.
New York’s current law is incredibly weak. In Montana it is a crime to drive past any open boat inspection station while towing or carrying ANY boat, motorized or non-motorized.
https://fwp.mt.gov/conservation/aquatic-invasive-species/rules
Same rules should be adopted in New York. Yes, I will be inconvenienced when I’m driving with canoes on my roof but that’s a small price to pay to ensure the big boats on trailers, especially those with baitwells, ballast tanks, or carpeted trailer bunks also be checked and decontaminated.
It won’t matter , the birds and animals will spread the invasive species . But hey , if it makes you feel good spend money on it .