Aquatic Invasive Species Early Detection Team: 2014 Report

Adirondack Watershed Institute

Sean Regalado, Lindsey Pett, Nathan Mills, Virginia Brink, & Dylan Kirk

Pimentel, Zuniga, & Morrison (2005)’s study published in the journal of Ecological Economics found on a yearly basis, invasive species cause $120 billion worth of environmental damages and economic losses in the United States. In response, many governments have funded the development of strategies to reduce the above mentioned costs with multi-scale spread prevention measures and early detectioneradication operations (Vander Zanden et al. 2010).

Paul Smith’s College’s Adirondack Watershed Institute, Nature Conservancy’s Adirondack Invasive Plant Program, the Champlain Basin Program, and the Lake George Association utilizing State, Federal, and private funds have facilitated the development and implementation of these strategies in northern New York for over a decade (Holmlund et al. 2014). The works reported below detail the efforts done for early detection and eradication.

The Adirondack Watershed Institute (AWI) of Paul Smith’s College has conducted full lake aquatic plant surveys of Adirondack waters since the summer of 2011. Initial funding was from the federally funded Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), which restricted the work to one time surveys of waters in the Eastern Lake Ontario Watershed of the Adirondack Park. The goal of AWI’s Early Detection Team is to map the diversity of aquatic plants across the Adirondacks and to early detect invasions of aquatic invasive species allowing for effective management of invaded beds.