Volunteers document out-of-season boat launches raising concerns about invasive species spread at Million Dollar Beach ramp
By Zachary Matson
State officials are not planning to restrict early and late season launches on Lake George despite a small band of residents documenting boats using the Million Dollar Beach ramp nearly every month of the year.
The residents, members of the Lake Stewardship Group of Cleverdale, say the boats could threaten the lake’s 10-year-long run of no new invasive species since they are launching when no boat inspectors or stewards are present.
State and Lake George Park Commission officials say the risk of invasives is lower in the winter months and that a mix of protections and laws already help prevent the spread of invasives while ensuring public access to the water.
The park commission sets an annual May 1 through Oct. 31 regulatory boating season, during which all boats must be inspected before launching. Separately, a state law requires all boaters launching within the Adirondack Park, at any time of the year, to certify their vessel is clear of invasive species.
Since the pandemic, volunteers of the Cleverdale group have informally monitored and documented boats launching through the winter months at the state-owned Million Dollar Beach boat ramp, Mossy Point boat ramp and a handful of other public launches around the lake.
They have recorded scores of trailers at the boat ramps on days not staffed by inspectors. Paying special attention to out-of-state licenses, they recorded recent launches by trailers registered in Indiana, Washington and states throughout the Northeast.
“The concern is some invasive getting in on a boat that hasn’t been inspected,” said Rosemary Pusateri, who maintains a growing list of the winter launches. “(Launches) happened more so this winter when the lake did not freeze.”
Lake George Waterkeeper Chris Navitsky has backed the volunteers as they sought changes to how the state Department of Environmental Conservation manages the ramp. Hague town board member Steve Ramant has also joined calls asking DEC to do more.
“We feel that it should be locked down whenever there is no inspector there,” Navitsky said.
In a statement last week, DEC made its position clear: “DEC is not considering steps to further restrict access to this boat launch.”
DEC noted the agency authorized boat inspectors with the park commission, which staffs the launch during its regulated boat season, to staff launches in the weeks prior to and following the official boating season. Those inspectors can help educate boaters and monitor use, but they cannot enforce the commission’s boating regulations outside the May 1-Oct. 31 season.
Dave Wick, executive director of the park commission, said he leaves management of the boat launch to the DEC but expressed confidence in the program in place on the lake to prevent the introduction of new invasive species. Wick said the park commission and other partners focus resources on managing the greatest risks, which peak during the summer when plants are growing and boating is busiest.
In the 10 years since the commission established the inspection program, agency staff have conduted nearly 320,000 inspections and found about 1,300 boats with visible invasive species, according to the program’s 2023 report. About 7.5% of boats inspected in 2023 did not meet the required “cleaned, drained and dry” standard and were required to be decontaminated – the lowest share since the program’s inception and down from over 17% in 2017.
The inspection program, jointly funded by the park commission, state, local governments and the Lake George Association, cost $672,875 in 2023.
“We don’t have the resources to do everything at all times,” Wick said. “We put in place the most robust program that really meets the scientific need.”
The park commission in recent years started to extend its inspector program earlier into April and later into November, though not the regulatory authority. Wick said the expanded monitoring gives the commission insight into use and enables continued communication with boaters beyond the regulatory season if weather still accommodates boating.
“All the time we have had the pre-season program, for seven or eight years, we haven’t found any boat with visible plant matter,” Wick said.
Wick acknowledged that the commission does not collect data on how many boats are launching on the lake when the inspectors are not on duty. He also noted the expansion of boatable conditions on the lake as water temperatures warm and the lake freezes over less often. Wick recently penned an article for the Lake George Mirror highlighting the dramatic change to ice conditions on the lake. Records show the lake froze over every year but one from 1900 to 1978. It’s now a “roll of the dice” whether the lake will freeze each winter, Wick wrote.
Brian Greene, aquatic invasive species coordinator at the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program, emphasized the yearlong requirement that boaters entering Adirondack lakes ensure their boat is “cleaned, drained and dry” to prevent the spread of invasives. He also said governments and other stakeholders around the park work to deploy limited resources to the most effective approaches, staffing high-use launch sites during the busy season.
He said the combination of lower boat volume, mostly dormant invasive plants and educational strategies lessens the risk that invasive species spread in the winter, though added that the risk can never be completely eliminated.
“The vast majority of boaters care about our lakes and streams and they are proactive,” Greene said. “We don’t want to keep people from being on the water. These are public waterbodies, and people have the right to access them 365 days a year as long as they are following clean, drain and dry.”
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I am whole heartedly for protecting the lake, as a native and year round resident with a dock. The people putting boats in early are local people who are maximizing lake time and trying to get a few extra days before the out of towners come. My boat has only ever been on Lake George and the same holds for those I see in. I’m hoping to get mine launched this weekend if the storage guy finishes the spring tune up in time. Risk management is not about a zero risk prospectus, and well intended people need to not lose sight of that. Limited resources can be better spent in other ways pre-season (salt/sewage management). It takes an extremely hearty person to want to be on the lake in April and they tend to be the conscientious ones who know how to keep their boat clean and local.
Plus, it’s likely they few that do this had their boat cleaned at the end of last season. Nothing is getting on the boat in storage Over the Winter.
Exactly–and I’m no fan of DEC usually, but this is a few wealthy people who think they own the lake trying to shut down access to the launch. While I wish they’d rally for reducing the size of boats allowed on the lake and other safety measures, that’s not their MO.
The NYSDEC’s mission as stated in the Environmental Conservation Law is “to protect the water resources of New York State’. Clearly, however, the Department is shirking their responsibilities in this current situation. Given the effectiveness of the Lake George boat inspection program it seems foolish to allow unchecked boats to launch outside the operating limits of the program. The Department should do the right thing and close the launch during non-program periods. Invasives have mechanisms that allow them to over-winter in spite of cold weather and other adverse conditions, so a well-intentioned boater with an un-inspected boat can be a serious problem, and it only takes one instance to introduce a new species into the lake. I worked for several decades on the management of Eurasian watermilfoil following its discovery in Lake George during the mid-1980s. And, since that time we now have Zebra mussels, Asian clams and numerous other species. If the Department can’t make a simple decision to close the launch and further protect the lake, then they had better be prepared to find the funds in their already diminished budget to fund a control program once a new species is introduced.
Wow, it’s April. Take it easy.
I would like to hear a little more about the Lake Stewardship Group of Cleverdale findings. How many launches did they observe over what period of time and how many were from out of the area? This does not seem to be the time to let our guard down concerning protection of the lake and the number of boats even in season is only increasing.
It is definitely not the same lake it’s changed a bit since I’ve been going there and that’s been from the early ’70s and we warn people back then about the muscles and everything but nobody did nothing just like down here in Connecticut same thing and we got some mess it’s hard to find them and get rid of them never ending job
The folks in LG know milfoil has been in the lake since 1986.
These boats were probably in storage all winter with no invasive species being attached. Lake George belongs to everyone not just the town of l g .I would turn my attention to the over pricing of everything during tourist season and the ridiculous parking costs while spending a fortune in town.
The concerned volunteers need to get trained and inspect boats, not just observe.
Lake George’s biggest problem is not off-season invasives: it’s too many boats, too many big boats and way too many rental boats. The fact that people who rent boats don’t have to take a boater safety course by 2025 is ridiculous.
The problem on Lake George is far from off-season invasives: there’s too many boats, including too many big boats and too many rental boats. It’s ridiculous that people who rent boats don’t have to take a Safe Boating Course by 20225.
That’s okay. I stopped boating on Lake George years ago.
That’s okay, I stopped boating on LG years ago.