Boat Inspection and Decontamination for Aquatic Invasive Species Spread Prevention: Recommendations for the Adirondack Region
Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program
Meghan Johnstone, Hilary Smith, Eric Holmlund, Meg Modley, Emily DeBolt & Kristen Rhone
Aquatic invasive species (AIS) pose a significant threat to the Adirondack environment and economy. For more than a decade, organizations and communities in the Adirondack region have worked together to address invasive species through coordination, prevention, education, detection, and management initiatives. Shoreowners, municipalities, and state agencies spend millions of dollars managing infestations each year. Studies show that investments in prevention yield the greatest economic return. In recent years, greater attention has been given to the need for more effective AIS prevention programs.
As of 2013, nearly 90 waterways in the region had one or more AIS; however, more than two out of three waterways surveyed, at least 230, are still free of AIS, which presents an opportunity to limit their spread. While there are many AIS pathways, recreational boating remains one of the most significant in the Adirondack region. As a result, groups are promoting the expansion of the boat launch steward program, which conducts education and inspections at boat launches. Data from 25,000 boating parties surveyed in 2012 show that boaters are traveling from more than 600 destinations, and 35% are not taking any spread prevention measures. This signals the need for additional focus on the importance of cleaning recreational equipment.
Prevention efforts promoting clean boating practices are underway and include education, such as brochures, signage, presentations, news releases etc.; inspections, i.e. volunteer and paid boat launch stewards; local laws prohibiting the transport of aquatic species; and, boat washing, i.e. decontamination. An increasing emphasis on inspection and decontamination among lake communities highlights the need for determining its role in a regional AIS prevention program.
This report evaluates the concepts of inspection and decontamination and uses existing datasets to inform recommendations for the region. The process involved five steps: 1) reviewing peer-reviewed scientific literature on recreational watercraft as an AIS pathway and the effectiveness of inspections and decontamination in removing AIS, 2) compiling Adirondack AIS distribution and boat access data, 3) compiling Adirondack boat launch steward data, 4) analyzing information in aggregate to understand trends, and 5) developing recommendations appropriate to the region. The process began in January 2013, and several drafts of the report were shared with a team of reviewers and the Adirondack Aquatic Invasive Species Committee members for input.
hough the peer-reviewed literature on the effectiveness of inspection and decontamination is limited, the papers that are available are credible, informative, and provide important guidance on integrating inspection and decontamination in a regional prevention strategy. The reference material is further enhanced by white papers and state reports from across the country. In addition, the AIS distribution and steward data available for the Adirondack region are among the most complete in New York State and were instrumental for informing the specific recommendations presented here. Because it is difficult to forecast which AIS will arrive, survive, and reproduce in Adirondack waterways, it is necessary to take a multi-species, long-term approach to AIS prevention efforts in the region. Therefore, in order to address all possible threats and offer the highest possible protection to the region, the recommendations presented include methods shown to be most effective in removing, and in some cases, killing a wide range of AIS.
The following key concepts from the literature were instructive in formulating recommendations:
1) Early in an invasion, when the goal is to slow the spread of AIS through a collection of waterways, the best way to protect uninvaded areas is to allocate resources to containing invaded areas.
2) Boater use patterns among invaded and uninvaded waterways can help managers predict patterns of AIS spread and identify invasion spread hubs and important linkage waterways.
3) Site specific AIS distribution data and boater behavior and use patterns can help prioritize placement of prevention programs.
particularly when practices target specific taxonomic groups such as aquatic invasive plants or small- bodied organisms.
5) Incorporating inspection and/or high-pressure, hot water decontamination at specific locations, ideally upon both entry and exit, can help to limit the landscape-level spread of aquatic invasive plants and small-bodied organisms.
Applying these key concepts in the Adirondack region, in combination with preliminary evaluation of regional datasets, including AIS distribution and boater use data, indicates that at least three overland transport sub- networks, three linkage waterways, and eight invasion spread hubs may exist in the Adirondack region. While this report’s analyses of boater use patterns are preliminary, they suggest that there is an as-yet incompletely understood chain of connectivity and sequence between the region’s waterways that could be exploited for maximum spread prevention on the landscape-level scale. This information and analyses informed the following recommendations:
1) Steward inspections and high-pressure, hot water decontamination stations at 13 specific waterways will help to limit the spread of aquatic invasive small-bodied organisms and also limit the spread of new AIS introductions to the region. Of those 13 waterways, four serve as invasion spread hubs, two serve as linkage waterways, and seven have aquatic invasive small-bodied organisms (Table 9).
2) Regional placement of high-pressure, hot water decontamination stations at overland transport sub- networks will help to limit the landscape-level spread of AIS (Appendix F).
3) Seventy-six of 88 waterways known to have aquatic invasive species contain only aquatic invasive plants (Appendix H). Steward inspections on those waterways with trailered boat access will help to limit the landscape-level spread of aquatic invasive plants.
4) Stewards deployed at priority uninvaded waterways will reduce the risk that those waters will become invaded.
Various levels of coverage also are presented for consideration based on risk reduction and resource availability. Importantly, initiatives are already underway that are implementing components of these recommendations that help to bolster prevention efforts. Furthermore, in absence of a comprehensive AIS prevention program, efforts underway by individual lakes to safeguard their waters are to be commended and supported.
his report presents recommendations for consideration based on the best available science and data to help inform decisions about prioritizing prevention efforts in the Adirondack region. The next step is to evaluate implementing the recommendations in the context of feasibility and funding. This will require working in collaboration with state agencies, elected officials, shoreowners, non-governmental groups, and additional stakeholders.
The following limitations on the data and analyses are to be noted: Since this report was prepared throughout 2013, it is based on AIS distribution data and steward data from 2012 and does not take into account new AIS detections or steward data collected in 2013, unless otherwise noted. Also, the data used in the analyses are based on best available information; therefore, the distribution data on the presence and absence of AIS reflect data on those waterways where surveys occurred. Similarly, boater behavior and use patterns reflect data where boat launch stewards are present. Thus, there is opportunity to apply the models and concepts discussed to other areas of the region.
Since the explicit goal of the report is to assess boat inspection and decontamination as it applies to the Adirondack region, the following issues are outside of the scope of the report: the role of mandatory inspection and decontamination programs; the role of inspection and decontamination across the state; the role of a statewide transport law; and, the technical feasibility and resourcing required to implement this report’s recommendations. The report does not cover other important AIS spread prevention measures, such as signage at boat launches, education, and regulation, among others. Other AIS pathways that are not addressed in this report include introduction or spread through canals, aquarium dumping, religious ceremonies, wildlife, illegal stocking, and water garden escapes, etc.
Since numerous Adirondack waterways are free of AIS, and, fewer numbers of AIS are in the region compared to neighboring regions, now is the time to take informed action to prevent landscape-level spread of AIS.