"It's important to understand our Indian River Lakes are part of a larger system. We have to look at the health of all our water bodies," she said,
The Black Lake Association, Inc., has partnered with the Goose Bay Reclamation Corp., to share boat stewards between the two launches after being awarded a $35,950 aquatic invasive spread prevention grant from the state's Department of Environmental Conservation.
Boat stewards provided voluntary aquatic invasive species (AIS) inspections and educational outreach to boaters about the importance of stopping the spread of AIS this summer. The project will resume during the summer months of 2017 and 2018.
Stewards worked four 10-hour days on Fridays, Sundays and every otherThursday at Black Lake. The steward was assigned to Goose Bay on Saturdays and every other Thursday. The Black Lake launch was covered on Saturdays by a state parks rotating boat steward.
The boat stewards also conducted outreach / education days this past summer for volunteers from four separate Indian River Lakes lake associations - Butterfield Lake Cottage Owners Association, Grass Lake Association, Millsite Lake Association and Lake of the Woods Association.
"In 2017 and 2018, these lake associations will also participate, in addition to others in the 18 Indian River chain of lakes. We believe that as more lakes become involved in the program we will be able to recruit others to participate and become educated about the benefits and importance of stopping the spread of AIS in the Indian River Lakes and the St.Lawrence River watershed," Black Lake Association President Karen Winters said.
Assemblywoman Russell had high praise for the effort to seek to control the spread of aquatic invasive species from water body to water body.
"It was a wonderful show of concern that the Black Lake Association has involved other lakes in the chain in this effort. They clearly understand that interconnectivity," she said.
"It was also fantastic to see the boaters were so receptive to the work being done to collect the data and educate the public," Assemblywoman Russell said.
"The research and environmental education has also resulted in the collection of valuable data about the utilization of these bodies of water and the magnitude of the activities on these waterways," she added.
She said the data collected will provide multiple benefits, ranging from developing new strategies to assist in fighting the spread of invasive species to providing invaluable information about boaters using the waterways that can boost efforts to spur tourism in the region.
Ms. Winters said the Black Lake Association contracted with the Paul Smith's College Adirondack Watershed Institute (AWI) Program for stewards, training, educational resources, data collection and reporting.
"We wanted to hit the ground running. We believed their expertise and depth of experience since 2000 in the Adirondack Park with stewardship programs would allow us to quickly and competently get our programs in place," Ms. Winters said.
She said Black Lake and Goose Bay have also embarked on a plan to provide sustained volunteer boat steward programs to supplement the steward secured through the grant.
"The steward program is aimed at helping boaters see the issues with aquatic invasive species and to help them be better informed. Fishermen like weeds, but when invasives take over our water bodies some can be devastating," Ms. Winters said.
"Each of our water bodies has issues. The cheapest thing to do is prevent them from spreading from one body to another," she noted.
She said the data collected ranged from aquatic invasive species found on boats and trailers to the waterways the boats had utilized in the previous two weeks.
"Invasive aquatic species can live out of the water for a couple of weeks under the right conditions. The data showed us, for example, that about a third of the boats entering Black Lake come from Pennsylvania. There are a lot of vacation rentals on Black Lake," she pointed out.
The Black Lake Association president said she was pleased with the results of the first year of the steward program.
"What has been great as we have been doing voluntary inspections and showing boaters how to check their boats and trailers. We saw very minimal refusal to participate. The response was very positive, even on fishing tournament days. We checked over 200 boats on the first day of bass season this year," she said.
She said 2,650 watercraft were inspected at Black Lake this summer. Stewards found invasive species on 15 to 20 percent of the boats launching at Black Lake and 30 to 35 percent of the watercraft leaving Black Lake. The most common aquatic invasive species found in Black Lake are water milfoil and zebra mussels.
Ms. Winters said she was also pleased Assemblywoman Russell was interested in observing the program in action.
"She wanted to come. She walked the area. It provided her with a better understanding of our program so if we go to her for grant support she knows the issues and how they can be best addressed," she suggested.
"We wanted to hit the ground running. We believed their expertise and depth of experience since 2000 in the Adirondack Park with stewardship programs would allow us to quickly and competently get our programs in place," Ms. Winters said.
She said Black Lake and Goose Bay have also embarked on a plan to provide sustained volunteer boat steward programs to supplement the steward secured through the grant.
"The steward program is aimed at helping boaters see the issues with aquatic invasive species and to help them be better informed. Fishermen like weeds, but when invasives take over our water bodies some can be devastating," Ms. Winters said.
"Each of our water bodies has issues. The cheapest thing to do is prevent them from spreading from one body to another," she noted.
She said the data collected ranged from aquatic invasive species found on boats and trailers to the waterways the boats had utilized in the previous two weeks.
"Invasive aquatic species can live out of the water for a couple of weeks under the right conditions. The data showed us, for example, that about a third of the boats entering Black Lake come from Pennsylvania. There are a lot of vacation rentals on Black Lake," she pointed out.
The Black Lake Association president said she was pleased with the results of the first year of the steward program.
"What has been great as we have been doing voluntary inspections and showing boaters how to check their boats and trailers. We saw very minimal refusal to participate. The response was very positive, even on fishing tournament days. We checked over 200 boats on the first day of bass season this year," she said.
She said 2,650 watercraft were inspected at Black Lake this summer. Stewards found invasive species on 15 to 20 percent of the boats launching at Black Lake and 30 to 35 percent of the watercraft leaving Black Lake. The most common aquatic invasive species found in Black Lake are water milfoil and zebra mussels.
Ms. Winters said she was also pleased Assemblywoman Russell was interested in observing the program in action.
"She wanted to come. She walked the area. It provided her with a better understanding of our program so if we go to her for grant support she knows the issues and how they can be best addressed," she suggested.
IN THE PHOTOS:
TOP PHOTO:
Assemblywoman Addie Jenne Russell was on hand for an aquatic invasive species outreach day this summer at Butterfield Lake. Pictured are (l-r): Tyrah Pollack, northwest regional supervisor for the Adirondack Watershed Institute; Assemblywoman Russell; Karen Winters, president of the Black Lake Association; and Joseph Pasquaini, president of the Butterfield Lake Cottage Owners Association.
BOTTOM PHOTOS:
William Bonner, who worked as a boat steward at Black Lake and Goose Bay this past summer, inspects a boat and trailer for aquatic invasive species.
William Bonner, who worked as a boat steward at Black Lake and Goose Bay this past summer, shows an aquatic invasive species he located during the inspection of a watercraft at Butterfield Lake.
