The Five Rivers Environmental Education Center is holding its second Invasive Species Awareness Week to help the public learn about the destructive power of invasive species and what the public can do to stop their spread.
Members of the community are invited to visit Five Rivers on Saturday, July 18 at 2 p.m. for an indoor presentation on invasive species, followed by a guided tour.
Invasive species are organisms that cause environmental damage or damage human health when they are introduced to a new area. These non-indigenous species usually make their way to new environments when traveling people unknowingly allow these species to hitch a ride onto their boats and cars.
Once these species are transported to a new environment, they then disrupt ecosystems by outcompeting existing species for the area’s limited resources. Invasive species can be animals, insects, plants or other organisms.
Five Rivers itself has several species they combat at their facility, according to Raymond Perry, the director of Five Rivers Environmental Education Center. The week’s events see visitors participate in lectures given by environmental specialists, and volunteers help to remove these species from Five River’s grounds.
The kick-off lecture was last Saturday, July 11, and more lectures were scheduled throughout the week.
Starting on Monday the center held its first volunteer event, a cleaning of the facility’s ponds of the invasive plant species the water chestnut. It will hold the same event this Friday, July 17, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
“It requires lot of physical labor to keep this species in check,” said Perry. “Unfortunately with the water chestnut, it is something that you have to do year after year.”
Five Rivers is having volunteers canoe and kayak on their ponds in order to remove the species.
“You cannot usually canoe or kayak here,” said Perry. “So in addition to helping us out, it’s one of the few opportunities you have to take boats on our ponds.”
According to Perry, the plant forms a very dense layer on top of the water. This causes harm to aquatic ecosystems as because plants can form a layer so dense that it blocks sunlight from the aquatic plants. Water chestnuts are also problematic to boating and rowing, as motorized boats and canoes are sometimes unable to make way through the plants.
The species is native to North Africa and Western Europe and was introduced locally in Collins Lake in Scotia in 1884. It was then spread to the Hudson River by the early 1900s, and then to more ponds and lakes from there
“Water chestnuts can cover a whole pond. It looks almost like land. If you ever see a pond that is completely in green it’s probably because of water chestnuts,” said Perry
Ideally volunteers would have their own canoes and kayaks, said Perry, but if they don’t, volunteers are still needed to help transport the plants from shore into receptacles. He recommended that volunteers bring gloves.
Five Rivers has been holding this cleaning for several years now. Volunteers are usually adults who have visited before and are interested in helping to preserve Five River’s grounds. Children who are accompanied by adults may also volunteer.
In future, Perry said he’d like to form an invasive species team to tackle these problems, and people interested in joining the team should contact Five Rivers.
Though it falls upon government environmental conservancy agencies to protect ecosystems from the harms of invasive species, a large part of this task relies on public awareness of the part they play in spreading invasive species. Among those most likely to spread invasive species are hikers, boaters, farmers, foresters, and highway personal.
“The importance is first of all to be aware, but awareness doesn’t go far enough if you don’t have some action,” said Perry. “There are some things that are relatively easy to do that stop the spread of these species.”
Invasive Species Awareness Week sees the Bureau of Environmental Education work together with environmental conservation agencies in counties across the state to help spread the knowledge of invasive species in order to stop their spread.
Hikers and campers are encouraged to clean their boots and clothing before going on a hike in a new area, while boaters and fishers and boaters are encouraged to clean out the exterior of their boat, especially the boat’s waters before moving it to a new body of water.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Five Rivers Education Center is located at 56 Game Farm Road in Delmar. Similar events will be held in Albany, Saratoga, Rensselaer, Columbia, Schenectady and Schoharie counties and beyond.
For more information on the invasive species in your area and what you can do to stop their spread, visit the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Invasive Species Awareness Week website at www.nyis.info/blog.