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Invasive Species Awareness Week

By Proclamation of New York State’s Governor, Andrew Cuomo, this week of July 6-12 has been declared as New York State’s Invasive Species Awareness Week. The PRISMs around the state have many events going on to help spread the public awareness of invasive species of their area. Events for this week and in the future can be found at http://www.nyis.info/blog/events/.

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Some of the ways that I contributed this week to the events was first, on Wednesday, I got to give a presentation to Saratoga County’s Board of Supervisors. That was really exciting. It was a group about about 25 people representing all the different towns that fill the county and it was the first time I had ever had the opportunity to speak to elected officials. I started with an overview of the PRISM and that there are several other PRISMs around the state with similar goals. I highlighted where they can find other events for the week and then I got into the brochure I made on common weeds found on Saratoga County farms and I began to talk to them about my project with the Knapweeds. I gave them a highlight of the history and told them what my research from this area would be used for. Lastly, I asked the group if they had any questions for me and I got some response. That was cool because according to Bill, they won’t usually ask questions.

Secondly, on Thursday, Laurel and I went down to the New Baltimore rest stop on the Thruway. Outside there we set up a information booth about invasive species in New York State. It captured many eyes but only gained the full attention of few out-of-staters that were interested in learning weather or not the same species that were a concern in their states, was also a concern in our state.

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Lastly, as an educational experience, Laurel brought us up to Lake George to see some of the new boat wash stations around the lake. It was really interesting to see the great effort that is going into preserving and protecting Lake George from the invasive aqua species in other lakes around the state. Even though we did not get to see the wash in action, they walked us through the whole procedure of how they check all the compartment of the boat where water is stored to make sure it is dry and there is not a drop of water in it. If they find any of the invasives, or water still in the boat, they must give it the routine disinfectant, which is just a high-temperature,  high-pressure cleaning, inside the bilge and engine, and outside the boat and the trailer.

After this I got my first ever visit to Lake George. We checked out the Invasive Species Awareness Week booth set up at the Lake George Visitor Center, then walked around and I got a brief history of the lake. We finished with some soft ice cream before getting back in the car to come back to the office. I am really looking forward to another visit to the area.

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