The Lake George Association has released a free report to the public with findings from the 2011 Lake Steward program.
Since 2006, lake stewards have inspected boats at high traffic launches around the Lake and have educated boaters about invasive species spread prevention.
Over the 2011 season, the Lake George lake stewards interacted with 8,593 boats:
· Within two weeks of their launch in Lake George, boaters had visited 193 unique waterbodies located in 15 different states.
· Other than Lake George itself, the next most frequently visited waterbody was the Hudson River, a waterbody with 91 different invasive species; 100 boats inspected had been in the Hudson within two weeks prior to launch in Lake George.
· Lake stewards collected 171 aquatic organism samples from 125 boats and trailers, and identified 87 samples to be invasive species.
· Four different species were found: Eurasian watermilfoil, curly-leaf pondweed, water chestnut and zebra mussels.
· 75% of boaters reported taking spread prevention methods before launching in the Lake.