Stewardship Program 2016 Final Report
Adirondack Watershed Institute
Eric Holmlund, Heather Coleates, Lauren Henderson, Sue O’Reilly, Jamie Parslow, Eric Paul, Sean Regalado, Jeff Sann, & Kathleen Wiley
This report summarizes the data and program highlights for the 2016 field season of the Adirondack Watershed Institute Stewardship Program (AWISP) of Paul Smith’s College (PSC) located in Paul Smiths, NY. In 2016, the AWISP hired 87 stewards stationed at 51 different boat launches and 12 decontamination stations throughout the Adirondack Park and beyond. This allowed the Stewardship Program to implement a landscape scale, coordinated aquatic invasive species (AIS) spread prevention program. Boat inspection and decontamination programs managed and funded by cooperating lake associations placed 31 stewards at 10 additional locations, for a combined total of 118 stewards at 83 locations. The AWISP managed the New York State AIS Prevention Program, funded by an appropriation from New York State’s Environmental Protection Fund, for the second consecutive year.
AWISP stewards educated 104,667 visitors about AIS issues and spread prevention techniques while inspecting 49,349 watercraft. Stewards discovered and removed 1,707 confirmed AIS, encompassing 2.9% of all watercraft inspected. Partner programs, operated independently, included Blue Mountain Lake, Brant Lake, Canada Lake, Caroga Lake Decontamination Station, Loon Lake, Paradox Lake and Schroon Lake. With partner programs’ inspection figures included, the totals are 58,848 watercraft, 126,011 people, and 1,743 confirmed AIS encompassing 2.5% of all watercraft inspected.
A comparative analysis of data from 68 AWISP and partner program boat launches revealed variation in visitor reception to inspection, AIS transport rate, percentage of visitors taking AIS spread prevention measures and type of watercrafts being launched. Visitors reported using their watercraft within the previous two weeks on over 460 different water bodies throughout the United States and Canada.
This report also includes summaries of steward outreach projects and research that took place during the 2016 field season. Steward projects include public education and outreach, community involvement, research projects, and projects surveying, managing and monitoring invasive species.
In 2016, funding for the AWISP was provided by the United States Environmental Protection Agency Great Lake Restoration Initiative (EPA GLRI), United States Fish and Wildlife Service GLRI, New York State’s Natural Heritage Trust (NHT), the Upper Saranac Lake Foundation (USLF), the St. Regis Foundation, the Lake Placid Shore Owners’ Association (LPSOA), the Saratoga Lake Protection and Improvement District (SLPID), the Rainbow Lake Association, the Adirondack White Lake Association, the Great Sacandaga Lake Advisory Council, the Great Sacandaga Lake Association, the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP), the Fund for Lake George, and Paul Smith’s College.
