With a unanimous vote, the Lake George Park Commission (LGPC) passed a resolution recenty calling for mandatory inspections for all trailered boats launching in Lake George.
The commission said it was an important step on the road to protecting Lake George from aquatic invasive species.
The resolution enables the commission to develop regulations that would require all boats and trailers to be inspected by certified park commission inspectors, and if the boat fails inspection, it would need to be decontaminated at a park commission wash station.
This rule is intended to outlaw all introductions of invasive species to Lake George, and to provide close management of the primary vector, trailered boats, by providing for the inspection of vessels to ensure that the operator of these vessels has taken steps to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species, comission officials said.
“We congratulate the commission for its bold action,” said Lake George Association Executive Director Walt Lender. “We have come a long way from where this started almost two years ago.”
The LGA has been represented at the LGPC’s invasive species committee meetings from the start and has worked closely with the commission as it developed its plans. “Information and experience we provided as a result of running the Lake Steward program at Lake George boat launches over the past 6 years has been helpful in the decision making process,” said Lender.
“Now, in what may be turning into our final year with the lake steward program in its current form, we continue to inspect boats and remove invasive species almost daily,” he said. “From the start of the boating season through July 6, our stewards inspected almost 2,700 boats and removed 53 plants or animals from boats and trailers. Eighteen of them were invasive species that our stewards stopped from getting into Lake George.” With all municipalities, agencies, and non-profits pulling in the same direction, Lake George is destined to have a mandatory boat inspection program in place by next boating season, said the LGA.
“A mandatory program is the best program to protect Lake George from invasive species,” Lender said. “I think we all agree on that. Now we have to make it work. I’m sure there will be some challenges to work out as the details of the program come together, but I am confident that the park commission has a well-thought-out plan and the LGA and many others certainly support it.”
In related news, the association sadi that a few weeks ago, Essex County passed a law banning the transport of invasive species into the Essex County portion of the Lake George watershed. Also recently, Washington County, which previously turned down an invasive species transport law, finally passed one.
Now with all three county governments and all municipalities around the lake supporting stronger controls over invasive species spread, and the LCPC poised to enact a mandatory inspection program, Lake George will be “in the very best position in its history to thwart the onset of invasive species,” said Lender.