Lake Champlain Basin Aquatic Nuisance Species Management Plan Revised 2005
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Lake Champlain Basin Aquatic Nuisance Species Management Plan Revised 2005 Coordinated by: Approved by the National Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force, April 28, 2005 Coordinated by: Lake Champlain Basin Program Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Developed in Cooperation with: Adirondack Park Agency Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program Environment Canada Lake Champlain Committee Lake Champlain Research Institute Lake Champlain Sea Grant New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Société de la Faune et des Parcs du Québec The Nature Conservancy United States Environmental Protection Agency United States Fish and Wildlife Service University of Vermont Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife Cover photographs and images courtesy of: Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation; Texas Parks and Wildlife Department © 2004; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and The Nature Conservancy. Table of Contents I. Executive Summary .................................................................................................................. 1 II. Introduction.............................................................................................................................. 2 The Lake Champlain Basin .......................................................................................................................................3 Plan Justification........................................................................................................................................................3 Plan Development......................................................................................................................................................6 Goals..........................................................................................................................................................................7 Evaluation and Review..............................................................................................................................................7 III. Aquatic Nuisance Species Problems and Concerns in the Lake Champlain Basin ......... 7 Priority ANS of Concern ...........................................................................................................................................9 Non-native Species of Potential Concern ................................................................................................................17 IV. Authorities and Programs ................................................................................................... 20 United States............................................................................................................................................................20 Canada.....................................................................................................................................................................22 Regional...................................................................................................................................................................23 State and Provincial.................................................................................................................................................24 Local........................................................................................................................................................................28 V. Objectives, Strategies, and Actions ...................................................................................... 28 Objective A. Coordinate Plan Implementation........................................................................................................29 Objective B. Education, Outreach, and Legislation.................................................................................................30 Objective C. Early Detection, Monitoring, and Research........................................................................................35 Objective D. Develop, Evaluate, and Prioritize ANS and Management Actions ....................................................41 Objective E. Implement Rapid Response and Management Actions.......................................................................45 VI. Implementation Table.......................................................................................................... 48 VII. Appendices........................................................................................................................... 52 A. Section 1204 of the National Invasive Species Act of 1996...............................................................................52 B. Opportunities for Action; An Evolving Plan for the Future of the Lake Champlain Basin (OFA).....................53 C. Lake Champlain Special Designation Act ..........................................................................................................54 D. Lake Champlain Basin ANS Management Plan – Review Committees and Writing Staff................................57 E. 2000 Lake Champlain Basin ANS Management Plan – Public Comments ........................................................58 F. Lake Champlain Management Conference (1991-1996).....................................................................................61 G. LCBP Steering Committee, Technical Advisory Committee, and Citizen Advisory Committees .....................63 H. Federal Agencies Regulating the Transport of Live Aquatic Products...............................................................65 I. State and Provincial Regulatory Statutes..............................................................................................................66 J. Glossary ...............................................................................................................................................................77 K. Abbreviations......................................................................................................................................................78 L. Bibliography........................................................................................................................................................79 i ii I. Executive Summary Lake Champlain is one of the largest freshwater lakes in the United States, with 435 square miles of surface water, more than 70 islands, and 587 miles of shoreline. It is 12 miles wide at its broadest point and reaches depths of more than 400 feet. The Lake flows from Whitehall, New York north almost 120 miles across the U.S.-Canadian border to its outlet at the Richelieu River in Quebec. The Lake’s watershed, known as the Lake Champlain Basin, encompasses an area of 8,234 square miles in New York, Vermont, and Quebec, Canada and includes hundreds of lakes and ponds and 34 major tributaries. An aquatic nuisance species (ANS), as defined by the Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990, is “a nonindigenous species that threatens the diversity or abundance of native species or the ecological stability of infested waters, or commercial, agricultural, aquacultural or recreational activities dependent on such waters.” Within the Lake Champlain Basin, dozens of plant and animal species fit this definition. Eurasian watermilfoil and water chestnut, two nonindigenous plant species, crowd out native species and impede recreational activities, such as fishing, boating and swimming, by forming dense monotypic stands. Purple loosestrife, a nonindigenous wetland plant, continues to spread throughout the Basin, displacing native species and threatening the diversity and stability of wetlands. Sea lamprey have limited the potential of native trout and salmon fisheries within Lake Champlain while zebra mussels are displacing the Lake’s native mussel species and are encrusting boats, historic shipwrecks, popular swimming areas, and water intake lines. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent each year within the Lake Champlain Basin to manage ANS and mitigate their impacts. Countless other nonindigenous plant and animal species such as hydrilla, quagga mussel, and Eurasian ruffe threaten to enter the Basin from neighboring waters. The Lake Champlain Basin ANS Management Plan facilitates the coordination of ANS management efforts throughout the Lake Champlain Basin. It also provides opportunities for federal cost sharing support for such efforts under the Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act as amended by the National Invasive Species Act of 1996. Additionally, the Lake Champlain Basin ANS Management Plan implements a key section of Opportunities For Action; An Evolving Plan for the Future of the Lake Champlain Basin, which was originally completed and signed by the Governors of Vermont and New York and representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1996 and revised in 2003. Both the original and revised Opportunities for Action plans identify the development and implementation of a comprehensive management program for nuisance nonnative aquatic species as one of the highest priority actions required to address the long-term health of the Lake Champlain Basin. The Goals of the Lake Champlain Basin ANS Management Plan are to: I. Prevent new introductions of ANS into waters of the Lake Champlain Basin; II. Limit the spread of established populations of ANS