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September/October 2008: Unintended Consequences |
Unintended Consequences
By Elizabeth Folwell
Illustrations by Susan Cassevaugh
Starling
Sturnus vulgaris
Size: 8–9 inches
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Against the Manhattan sky the songbirds rose, their speckled bodies catching the light. There must have been poetry in the moment for Eugene Schieffelin on that day in 1890, when he released 60 starlings. His motivation was to bring the birds of Shakespeare to the new world in a celebration of nature in art.
Forty years earlier a group of civic-minded individuals set free several pairs of English sparrows in a Brooklyn park, paying a small fortune—$200—to bring them across the Atlantic. This little flock failed, but releasing crates of sparrows became a widespread fad. People with lofty goals—decorating the North American landscape with familiar feathers—persisted. English or house sparrows were brought to Montreal, Des Moines, Seattle and other cities, where they thrived, especially in the era of horse-drawn wagons. Though a few scientists felt the chunky brown-and-white birds would help control insects, what they did best was scavenge undigested oats from horse manure.
These innocent acts began a new chapter in American ecology, as they mark spectacularly successful deliberate introductions of nonnative species. In the decades after the first starlings flew off in New York City the birds spread to all points of the compass, quickly following the Hudson River northward and crossing the Mississippi in the 1930s. Within one human life span there were tens of millions. They found an abundance of food and habitat here, showing up in villages, farms and the woods. Starlings crowded out bluebirds and woodpeckers and demolished crops. Called the "white-rumped shrike" in country parlors, the bird was an Adirondack resident early in the 20th century. Here they tended toward agricultural areas. Elsewhere they fouled historic buildings and confounded urban leaders who tried to deter them with caustic chemicals, electric fencing, even explosives. The U.S. Department of Agriculture came up with its own solution to the crisis during the Depression: starling pie.
The English sparrow swept into the Adirondacks about 1900, according to Elon Eaton, author of the two-volume Birds of New York (1910 and 1914). In our fields and forest edges they displaced bluebirds, tree swallows and purple martins, though they were not nearly as good at eating bugs as these residents. In 1903 bird expert W. L. Dawson wrote, "Without question the most deplorable event in the history of American ornithology was the introduction of the English sparrow."
The situation was clear: bringing the birds to the United States was a disaster. Birdhouse manufacturer Joseph H. Dodson was vehement: "The English Sparrow must go. The bird has wrought a great deal of evil to our country chiefly by its activity in driving away native songbirds.... We imported the English Sparrow—that was not Nature's fault. We should rectify our error, drive out the English Sparrow, work together and bring back our native song birds." In 1906 he made good on his threat; his sinister-looking metal canister for capturing the birds was patented.
Commerce motivated sparrow removal, but revitalizing American industry was the impetus for bringing the gypsy moth to the Northeast. Abundant waterpower created the prosperous mill towns of Massachusetts and Maine, and if cotton could be spun and woven there, why not silk? In the mid 1800s silkworm cocoons were imported to launch the new enterprise. The caterpillars did find some mulberry trees for fodder, but the adult moths were not particularly hardy in this climate. So, in western Massachusetts in 1869, Etienne Leopold Trouvelot hoped to breed the European gypsy moth with the silkworm to produce a robust commercial insect. Some larvae escaped, quickly adapting to the new forest. Within 20 years Massachusetts officials saw woodland devastation. Attempts to kill moths involved spraying aerosol poison, but uneven terrain and well-established colonies thwarted the effort. Though female gypsy moths do not fly and caterpillars can only drift on windborne threads, the pests were here in New York—eating leaves of oaks, poplars, apples, even conifer needles—just after World War I. In the North Country and elsewhere men were paid to gather egg masses in the winter, and sprays of DDT and Sevin were only marginally effective. One of the most visible gypsy-moth infestations occurred around Lake George in the 1990s, when entire hillsides of mature oak were denuded.
Traps, cats, Paris green, strychnine, bare hands, nets, target practice, culinary experiments—there was no stopping the progression. A thousand pack baskets full of caterpillar eggs or a pesticide-shrouded forest were bound to fail in the battle against the fluttery white ghosts. If starling pie called for four and 20 baked in a pan to be served at every meal or if Dodson's killing cages clacked shut every hour every day we would never come back to the state of grace. This is how invasive species work, as plants, insects, crustaceans and vertebrates from other worlds take hold in ours. They're faster, stronger, hungrier and without meaningful predators in their adoptive homes.
though we tend to see our corner of the state as an isolated enclave, New York is bordered by the ocean and natural waterways and pierced by canals. The fluid situation has enabled all kinds of stowaways, from underwater vines to tiny shellfish, to reach this island we call the Adirondacks. North Country rivers flow into the St. Lawrence, the Hudson, the Mohawk and Lake Champlain; numerous streams are feeders for the Erie, Champlain and Oswego Canals.
If one lover of literature had Eden in mind as he uncaged the starlings, then we can look at ships leaving European ports centuries ago as arks; settlers and their livestock unconsciously transported weeds and vermin. When the St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959 international trade increased dramatically, and one unfortunate dividend was the introduction of more than 80 nonnative species. In modern times, all signs point to unintended consequences when we acknowledge the presence of zebra mussels, Asian long-horned beetles, fanwort and water chestnut as well as the new kid on the block—Sirex woodwasp, found in Piseco in 2006. They all are the by-products of global commerce. They immigrated in ballast tanks, wood pallets and packing crates. When water was dumped for the Atlantic return trip, they swam into aqua incognito; when pallets of Chinese imports were trucked to discount chains the opportunistic bugs rode along, deep into virgin territory.
Zebra Mussel
Dreissena polymorpha
Size: 1–2 inches
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Quackgrass, giant thistles, teasels, dandelions—these foreigners showed up early in American history, in the guts and hooves of horses and cows, on the fleece of sheep, in sacks of seed for fodder. Quackgrass has been in the Americas since the 1600s, and half a dozen species of thistles spiked their way into pastures a century later. These are beyond any kind of eradication. More troubling are the pretty faces in the crowd: purple loosestrife, Indian cup, yellow flag and Japanese knotweed. The flowers are lovely, the plants robust, thriving in waste places where shy-mannered natives once grew in balance with each other and the animals that ate their roots and shoots and seeds. In new country these strangers behave like playground bullies; compounding the problem, gardeners can still purchase well-known invasives from nurseries in New York State, including the brilliant sun-gold iris, yellow flag, and the prickly Japanese barberry. Left in a neglected Adirondack garden, like the grounds of Scaroon Manor, in Schroon Lake, barberry grows as thick as a man's arm and is covered with nasty thorns, daring anyone to remove it.
Purple loosestrife—the tall beauty with five-foot stalks topped by feathery amethyst blossoms—arrived in the New World almost with the Pilgrims. In the Old World the plant was used to calm the gut, and it had weevils, borers and other pests perfectly suited to keep numbers in check. Here, though, it found paradise. Few threats, a fine climate and abundant habitats meant that purple loosestrife went from rare at the time of the American Revolution to widespread in the Northeast by 1830.
Today, purple loosestrife is obnoxiously abundant in every state but Florida. You have seen it along the Northway or the Thruway in damp ditches. In the 1970s it was rampant as a brilliant border for Route 30 between Long Lake and Tupper Lake, distributed there to control erosion by the New York State Department of Transportation. You may have spotted it waving above a neighbor's garden; it is such a handsome backdrop to other hardy perennials. But beware: when the time comes for the long flowers to go to seed, thousands upon thousands may be released. No wonder jungles of the stuff pack sunny wetlands. In these settings natives like cattails just don't have a chance.
Dense thickets of Japanese knotweed tower over roadsides, the tubular stems hollow like bamboo and the demeanor as aggressive as crabgrass. Records indicate that the plant was in the Northeast shortly after the Civil War, sometimes used as graceful accents in formal gardens. In central New York, in the 1930s, beekeepers encouraged knotweed because the sweet white flowers produced superb honey. Inevitably, knotweed got a toehold in the wilds, then by the 1970s it was a stampede. The plants send out suckers and its roots can tunnel beneath a two-lane macadam road. You can eat knotweed shoots when they're young; think of insipid rhubarb for flavor, penne pasta for shape. Knotweed pie, like starling tart, does not seem poised to gain kitchen credibility or use as effective control.
Garlic mustard, a nondescript perennial vine with grass-green triangular leaves, was brought here as a potherb, a welcome spring flavor in a pioneer meal. This plant loves disturbed areas and forest edges. But the natives it has muscled out—trout lily, clintonia, foamflower, starflower—are slow to germinate, even slower to reach reproduction age. The delicate trout lily, with its nodding yellow bells and mottled green leaves, needs almost a decade to grow from a tiny seed to a viable bulb. In contrast, garlic mustard rockets up in the spring before other plants push through the soil, and its seed (which doesn't appeal to rodents or birds) can still germinate after seven years of dormancy.
When New York Governor David Paterson declared July 6–12, 2008, as the Adirondack Park Invasive Species Awareness Week, he was acknowledging the work of conservation groups and state agencies that have been diligently digging, diving and destroying the armies of invaders. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program (APIPP) of the Nature Conservancy's regional chapter, based in Keene Valley. Hilary Oles specializes in aquatic vegetation; Steve Flint is the land-plant expert. In Bolton Landing, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Darrin Fresh Water Institute (DFWI) has led the way for decades in discovering the whereabouts of zebra mussels, Eurasian watermilfoil and other troublesome fauna and flora. At Paul Smith's College, the Adirondack Park Aquatic Institute teaches shore owners about good practices and supervises watchful lake stewards. Lake George has its own Waterkeeper, plus advocacy groups dating back to the 1880s. These organizations work with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and dozens of lake associations, from Mountainview to Upper Saranac to the Fulton Chain. Citizen awareness has gone from next to nothing 10 years ago to zealous activism. Hundreds of volunteers have attended workshops sponsored by APIPP and other groups so that their own lakes may stay free of aliens.
European Gypsy Moth
Lymantria dispar
Size: 1–2.5 inches
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A workshop in Saranac Lake in late June featured Oles, Flint, Larry Eichler from DFWI and DEC representatives in an intensive show-and-tell on invasive plants and animals. There were plastic trays of specimens ranging from half-inch-long zebra mussels to fronds of Brazilian elodea, which appears north of the equator thanks to people dumping aquarium contents into nearby ponds and lakes. Volunteers studied the aliens and their look-alikes and then headed outside to learn what they can do on home waters. Despite the array of worrisome organisms, the tone of the presentations was upbeat. Oles said, "There's much to be optimistic about in the Adirondacks. A lot of good work is happening here, and the results are clear."
Documentation and eradication are daunting tasks, given the thousands of lakes and ponds and millions of acres of public and private land in the park. Take garlic mustard as an example: This perennial simply loves state campgrounds. The conditions are perfect for it to flourish and the ways to help it spread are abundant. At Golden Beach, with 206 sites on Raquette Lake, Wayne Blanchard explained, "Garlic mustard travels on waffle stompers, pets, tires and mud flaps; as seed-infested soil can easily go from place to place, wherever visitors go it's right there with them."
One June day I caught up with Blanchard, who was supervising a team of Student Conservation Association (SCA) workers foraging through the campsites with garbage bags, weeding out garlic mustard. The stuff—and its strong odor—lingered everywhere. "Cleanliness is the key," Blanchard said. He teaches at Green Mountain State College, in Vermont, and works for the DEC Regions 5 and 6 when school's out to remove invasive land plants. "We're pulling up second-year plants, as first-year plants are not harming anything."
The bags piled up, loaded with vegetation. For disposal, these would be laid out on a sunny parking lot, so the contents could rot in isolation. Then the garbage would go to a trash-burning plant in Warren County. Other means of destroying plants and seeds have not succeeded. A waste area near the campground is proof—raked debris used to be deposited here, and garlic mustard, giant thistle and other nuisances grew luxuriantly. More than 30 huge bags of alien vegetation were removed from the clearing this year.
According to Blanchard, who works closely with APIPP, garlic mustard roots produce a toxin that makes soil inhospitable to other plants, so it's not the greater height (mature specimens can be five feet high), nor the fact it is happy in sun or shade that makes it dominate. "No Adirondack animals eat it, or if they do, it's just a taste," he said.
There are dozens of state campgrounds in the Adirondack Park, and Blanchard has visited them all, assistants in tow and garbage bags in hand. These places used to be rife with invasive plants, but significant progress has been made, one plucked root at a time. Throughout the summer, the student conservation workers and APIPP volunteers comb roadsides and clearings doing the dirty work.
Passenger cars and pickup trucks are under increasing scrutiny for enabling destructive alien insects to travel toward the park much faster than they can fly or crawl, as visitors bring chunks of ash or hemlock, a few scraps of kindling gleaned from discarded pallets to burn in campfires. State campgrounds, so hospitable to invasive plants for their mix of clearings and forest, could become the prime new entry points for even more pests. This spring the DEC issued a ban on transporting firewood more than 50 miles within New York to head off the introduction of Asian long-horned beetle, emerald ash borer, hemlock woolly adelgid and Sirex woodwasp in untouched wild places. Conservation officials are understandably worried as home fuel costs rise and more families move to heating with wood. But inspecting every trunk or truck bed is impossible; awareness of the potential damage to the woodlands people love will have to carry the message. Smokey the Bear has been tremendously effective in citizen education, and a compelling marketing campaign along similar lines—Only You Can Prevent—may be necessary, as soon as possible.
In Adirondack waters, the opportunities for nonnative plants to germinate in new territory were limited first by the natural flow of rivers and occasional canalers that may have snagged a sprig of vegetation from an infested area. Eurasian watermilfoil was in the United States by 1870. In 1962 it was present in Lake Champlain; the LaChute River, running through Ticonderoga, might have helped the plant move into Lake George. According to Larry Eichler, of the Darrin Fresh Water Institute, recreational boating was responsible for the plants' impressive spread in bays during the 1970s.
Purple Loosestrife
Lythrum salicaria
Size: 3–5 feet tall
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One dandelion flower can disperse hundreds of seeds borne on the wind, but Eurasian watermilfoil is exponentially more adept at colonizing. A quarter-inch fragment of stalk can grow rapidly to an impressive 15-foot vine. From there, other bits break off the surprisingly frail structure and are carried to new spots on the lake bottom, or, more troublesome, an inboard zipping through a well-established bed can pick up a few samples in its prop shaft. The minuscule greenery can escape the scrutiny of even the most conscientious; a bit of plant can live in the damp recesses of a hull or trailer for several days. It's that simple: a piece of this as long as a fingernail may be enough to become a nuisance in your lake. Minerva Lake, Upper Saranac and Schroon are only a sampling of the 50-plus water bodies with Eurasian watermilfoil.
There are just a couple of boat-washing stations in the park, at Lake George and Upper St. Regis Lakes, and lake stewards inspect boats and trailers entering Lake Placid, Indian Lake and Upper Saranac. But the burden is on individuals to think about where their boats have been and what they may accidentally introduce to pristine waters. Getting rid of Eurasian watermilfoil is arduous work, swimming down through suffocating jungles to hand-harvest plants. Some lakes use underwater threshers to remove thick plots, and suction devices siphon target areas into screens so that infinitesimal pieces can be captured.
Ships and eventually motorboats are the culprits for introducing zebra mussels to our lakes. Twenty years ago a freighter from the Baltic Sea dumped its ballast water in Michigan's Lake St. Clair. Microscopic larvae of the mollusks thrived in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River and were carried into Lake Champlain's southern reaches by 1993. Sandra Nierzwicki-Bauer, director of the freshwater research center, pinpointed the date of discovery in Lake George: December 1999. "Divers from Bateaux Below [an underwater historic preservation group] found them on a shipwreck at the south end of the lake offshore of King Neptune's Pub. They were brought to the DFWI where their identification was confirmed. Removal efforts of zebra mussels via scuba divers began at this site shortly after ice-out in April 2000. Since that time they have been found at seven locations in Lake George."
Nierzwicki-Bauer commented that most North Country lakes are too cold and lack the calcium necessary for the juveniles to reach hard-shell stage. However, just outside the Blue Line, Glen and Saratoga Lakes have populations of the striped mollusks. The larvae are eaten by crustaceans and other predators, but the adults are a difficult meal for waterfowl and fish.
Yet another waterborne threat lurks beyond the Adirondack Park boundary—Didymosphenia geminata, a pale and prolific alga. The common name, rock snot, gives a clue to its disturbing appearance, like festoons of toilet paper clogging a stream. Just last year anglers brought the stuff to the Batten Kill, a river in Washington County, probably attached to the bottom of wading shoes. The alga can revitalize itself after days or even weeks out of the water, so outfitters in Lake Placid are encouraging customers to wash gear before venturing into the Ausable and other cherished fishing destinations. The good news about this invader is that public awareness is high already.
In The Winter's Tale Perdita evoked glorious spring, "daffodils,/That come before the swallow dares, and take/The winds of March with beauty." Several months ago an Adirondack gardener who has planted thousands of bulbs in his Essex County woods mused about introducing daffodils to Adirondack roadsides. He felt the fields of yellow would attract countless tourists. But these plants have few enemies and naturalize freely in almost any setting. When it comes to tinkering with our fields and forests, our lakes and skies, a little Shakespeare can be a dangerous thing.
Invasive Species
Alewife
Alosa pseudoharengus
Native to: Atlantic Ocean
Introduced: 1931, Lake Erie; 2003, Missiquoi Bay, Lake Champlain
Why: Intentionally stocked or accidentally released from bait buckets
Impact: Competes with natives
Asian Carp
Bighead: Hypopthalmichthys nobilis
Silver: Hypopthalmichthys molitrix
Native to: Europe, Asia
Introduced: 1960s, U.S.
Why: Intentionally stocked for algae removal
Impact: Competes with natives
Chinese Mitten Crab
Eriocheir sinensis
Native to: East Asia
Introduced: 1965, Great Lakes,
St. Lawrence Seaway, Hudson River
Why: Larval dispersion from ballast water and by ship hull
Impact: Can move hundreds of miles upstream from saltwater; larvae
burrow into river bottoms and cause erosion
Zebra Mussel
Dreissena polymorpha
Native to: Europe, Asia
Introduced: 1988, Lake St. Clair; July 1993, Lake Champlain
Why: Dispersion from ballast water
Impact: Competes with natives
Asian Long-horned Beetle
Anoplophora glabripennis
Native to: China, Japan and Korea
Introduced: September 1996, New York City
Why: Arrived accidentally in cargo from Asia
Impact: Larvae eat heartwood of deciduous trees such as elm, willow, poplar and maple
Emerald Ash Borer
Agrilus planipennis
Native to: Asia
Introduced: 2002, Michigan and Ontario
Why: Arrived accidentally in cargo from Asia
Impact: Larvae feed on phloem of North American ash trees
European Gypsy Moth
Lymantria dispar
Native to: Europe
Introduced: 1869, U.S.; 1990s, reached outbreak levels near Lake George
Why: Silk production
Inhabits: Natural forests, riparian zones, urban areas
Impact: Eats tree foliage
Hemlock Woolly Adelgid
Adelges tsugae
Native to: Asia
Introduced: 1985, New York (21
counties)
Why: Arrived accidentally in cargo from Asia
Inhabits: Hemlock trees
Impact: Extracts nutrients and sap
Sirex Woodwasp
Sirex noctilia
Native to: Europe, Asia
Introduced: 2004, New York; 2006, Hamilton and St. Lawrence Counties
Why: Entered ports via solid wood packaging material, spread through transported firewood
Inhabits: Pine forests
Impact: Females inject mucus and fungus into the bark of pine trees when laying eggs; mucus kills cells and fungus eats dead wood
Japanese Barberry
Berberis thunbergii
Native to: Japan
Introduced: 1875, Boston
Why: Ornamental; seeds sent from Russia to Boston. Planted in 1896 at New York Botanical Garden
Inhabits: Canopy forests, open woodlands, wetlands, meadows
Impact: Grows in dense and thorny patches
Oriental Bittersweet
Celastrus orbiculatus
Native to: Asia
Introduced: 1860s, U.S.
Why: Ornamental; seeds spread by blue jays, mockingbirds and starlings
Inhabits: Forest edges, fields, hedgerows, woodlands
Impact: Vines damage other plants with weight of branches, girdling
Common Reed Grass
Phragmites australis
Native to: Europe, U.S. and Africa
Introduced: Late 1800s, aggressive subspecies introduced to U.S.
Why: Accidental
Inhabits: Sunny wetlands, riverbanks, lakeshores, roadsides
Impact: Rapid reproduction and dense stands displace native grasses
Garlic Mustard
Alliaria petiolata
Native to: Europe
Introduced: 1868, Long Island, New York; high populations near Fulton Chain of Lakes, Elizabethtown and Lake Champlain
Why: Food and medicinal use
Inhabits: Deciduous forests
Impact: Dominates ground layer of shaded woods
Giant Hogweed
Heracleum mantegazzianum
Native to: Asia
Introduced: 1917, Highland Park, New York
Why: Ornamental
Inhabits: Forest edges, ditches, waste areas, stream banks, wet areas
Impact: Contributes to soil erosion, pushing out nearby plants; on
federal noxious weed list for poisonous sap
Indian Cup
Silphium perfoliatum
Native to: U.S. Midwest
Introduced: Early 1900s, New York; 1990s, Ausable River Valley
Why: Ornamental
Inhabits: Moist soils
Impact: Competes with natives
Japanese Knotweed
Fallopia japonica
Native to: Asia
Introduced: 1870s, U.S.
Why: Ornamental, honeybee forage, erosion control
Inhabits: Forest edges, stream banks, roadways
Impact: Spreads rapidly; very tolerant
of shade, high temperatures, drought and floods
Purple Loosestrife
Lythrum salicaria
Native to: Europe, Asia
Introduced: Early 1800s, U.S.; 1818, New York
Why: Ornamental, honeybee forage
Inhabits: Wet meadows, marshes, riverbanks, edges of ponds
Impact: Reproduces and grows rapidly, seeds germinate in high densities
Spotted Knapweed
Centaurea biebersteinii
Native To: Europe
Introduced: Late 1800s, U.S.; 1883, Victoria, British Columbia; 1975, Paul Smiths
Why: Spread across North America in hay and alfalfa seeds
Inhabits: Forests, meadows, pastures
Impact: Competes with hay crop and native grasses
Brazilian Elodea
Egeria densa
Native to: South America
Introduced: 1893, U.S.
Why: Aquarium trade
Inhabits: Still and moving water (often confused with hydrilla)
Impact: Competes with natives
Brittle Naiad
Najas minor
Native to: Europe, Africa and Asia
Introduced: Early 1900s, U.S.
Why: Spread by boats
Inhabits: Water 2–15' deep
Impact: Grows in thick clusters, shading native aquatic plants
Curly-leaf Pondweed
Potamogeton crispus
Native to: Europe, Australia and Africa
Introduced: 1880, northeastern U.S.
Why: Aquarium trade; spread by boats
Inhabits: Lakes, ponds and streams throughout North America, including 21 counties in New York and many Adirondack lakes. Thrives in cold, alkaline water
Impact: Begins growing earlier in conditions unfavorable to native species
Eurasian Watermilfoil
Myriophyllum spicatum
Native to: Europe, Asia
Introduced: 1890, U.S.; 1940s, Finger Lakes; 1962, Lake Champlain; 1997–98, Adirondack lakes
Why: Aquarium trade; spread by boats
Impact: Forms floating mats of vegetation on surface of water, preventing light penetration
Fanwort
Cabomba caroliniana
Native to: Southern U.S.
Introduced: 1980s, New York; mid 1990s, Saratoga County
Why: Aquarium trade; spread by boats
Impact: Competitive, densely growing, spreads by fragmentation
Water Chestnut
Trapa natans
Native to: Europe, Asia
Introduced: 1884, Collins Lake, Scotia, New York and Fresh Pond, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Why: Ornamental
Impact: Spreads quickly, destroys native grasses and animal habitats
Rock Snot Algae
Didymosphenia geminata
Native to: Europe, Asia
Introduced: August 2007, Batten Kill, New York
Why: Clings to boats and fishing gear
Inhabits: Flowing and still water
Impact: Develops into thick mats, remains viable during transport for several months
Citizen Participation
Eurasian Watermilfoil
Myriophyllum spicatum
Size: 1–2.5 inches
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Numerous conservation groups and state agencies offer current information on invasive species monitoring and control. Check your local lake association for efforts in your watershed.
Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program (APIPP) has a comprehensive Web site, including fact sheets, annual reports, volunteer and internship opportunities and the latest news concerning Adirondack invasives. www.adkinvasives.com
Adirondack Park Watershed Alliance organizes stewardship activities. www.macscanoe.com/AWA/AWAhome.htm
The Adirondack Nature Conservancy sponsors field trips as well as volunteer and internship programs. www.nature.org/adirondacks
The Darrin Fresh Water Institute, in Bolton Landing, presents lectures and conducts research in Lake George and elsewhere. Its Web site shows aquatic plants for identification. www.rpi.edu/dept/DFWI
The Lake Champlain Basin Program shares information about undesirable aquatic plants and animals, advice on management and links to Web sites with invasive species information. www.lcbp.org
The Lake George Association, one of the oldest preservation groups in the state, offers news on Eurasian watermilfoil on its site, plus annual reports on nuisance aquatic plants. www.lakegeorgeassociation.org
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation features information and links on New York's most problematic nuisance species as well as tips on controlling ecosystem damage. www.dec.ny.gov
Training in plant identification and eradication occurred throughout the summer across the Adirondacks, but learning opportunities happen year-round. Some upcoming events are:
Fifth World Congress on Allelopathy, in Saratoga Springs, September 21–25, offers a session specific to the APIPP's work. www.iascongress5.org
Monthly statewide invasive species conference calls are open to the public. September 24 and October 29, 11–12 p.m. (518) 690-7871
"Invaders" is an exhibition at the New York State Museum, in Albany, April 15, 2008–March 15, 2009, featuring many of the invasive species harming forests, lakes and landscapes as well as what we can do to help. www.nysm.nysed.gov
—Jaime Fuller
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