New Hampshire Lakes Association Lake HostTM Program 2013 Manual Aquatic Nuisance Species Education and Prevention Program Brought to New Hampshire’s lakes and ponds and local groups by: New Hampshire Lakes Association (NH LAKES) 14 Horseshoe Pond Lane Concord, NH 03301 p: (603) 226-0299 f: (603) 224-9442 [email protected] www.nhlakes.org May 1, 2013 Dear Lake Hosts and Point Persons, The Lake HostTM Program—New Hampshire Lakes Association’s premier Lake Hosts Needed! th education and stewardship program—officially kicks off its 12 year in mid-May with a new message to share with boaters: “Clean, Drain, and Dry!” Along with providing boaters with a new brochure and decal this year, approximately 750 Lake Hosts, staffing 102 of the most highly used public boat ramps throughout the state, will teach boaters about how they can prevent the spread of aquatic nuisance animals along with aquatic nuisance plants. During previous years, Lake Hosts have focused on teaching boaters how to prevent the spread of unwanted plants, like variable milfoil, by showing boaters where to look for hitchhiking plant fragments on boats and trailers, removing all hitchhikers, and disposing of them properly. Since 2002, Lake Hosts have conducted more than 505,000 courtesy boat inspections and have captured 1,256 pieces of hitchhiking aquatic nuisance plants before they were able to infest another waterbody! And, by simply showing boaters how to conduct their own boat and trailer inspections when a Lake Host isn’t working at Sat. Sept. 7, 2013 ramp they visit, Lake Hosts have surely contributed to the prevention of many Lake Winnipesaukee at more aquatic nuisance species fragments from sneaking into New Hampshire’s Weirs Beach, Laconia waterbodies. Help us raise awareness about Starting this year, Lake Hosts will also talk to boaters about how they can preventing the spread of prevent the spread of unwanted aquatic nuisance animals which can be aquatic nuisance species even more devastating to our lakes than aquatic nuisance plants. Because while attempting to set the these species, such as the zebra mussel and Asian clam, are usually spread in Guinness World Record for their larval form by boaters, they are nearly impossible to see when hitchhiking the largest raft of canoes and on a boat, trailer, and recreational gear. Visual inspection and hand removal is kayaks on a single body of not an effective prevention option for aquatic nuisance animals. Lake Hosts will water! explain to boaters that they can help prevent the spread of nuisance animals by always draining water from their boat motor, bilge, live wells, and bait buckets Lake Host are needed to after boating and before leaving a launch, and by letting everything that touched the water dry for at least five days before being put back into the water. Lake help inspect more than Hosts will also explain that it is even more effective for boaters to rinse off their 2,000 canoes and kayaks! boat, trailer, and gear after every use—the hotter and higher the pressure of the water the better—as long as the rinse water does not flow back into a waterbody. Volunteer your time, help set a world record, and have Through the NH LAKES Lake HostTM Program thousands of Lake Hosts have some fun! helped prevent the spread of aquatic nuisance plants in New Hampshire for over a decade—we’re confident that by adopting the “Clean, Drain, and Dry!” To volunteer, email approach, Lake Hosts can effectively help boaters prevent the spread of aquatic [email protected] or nuisance animals too. call (603) 226-0299. Whatever your reason for participating in the Lake Host Program— whether you wanted a summer job, something to add to your resume, a way to For more information visit: help protect your investment along a lake, or a reason to sit by the lake and read www.nhlakefest.org a book, paint a picture, or play a game of cards with a fellow Lake Host while waiting for the next boater—thank you for doing your part to protect New Hampshire’s lakes and ponds from the spread of aquatic nuisance species. On behalf of the New Hampshire Lakes Association, Andrea LaMoreaux Vice President of Education & Communication Table of Contents Lake Host Program Summary 1 Aquatic Plants and Their Role in Lake Ecology 3 NH’s Aquatic Nuisance Species Laws 5 Waterbodies in NH with Aquatic Nuisance Species___ 8 Aquatic Nuisance Species Fact Sheets Variable Milfoil 9 Eurasian Milfoil 10 Fanwort 10 Water Chestnut 10 Zebra Mussel 11 Asian Clam 13 Didymo 14 Point Person/Managing Lake Host Position Description 16 Lake Host Position Description 18 Lake Host Job Expectations and Tips 19 Inspection Diagrams 22 Boater Survey Sheet 23 Boater Daily Summary Sheet 24 Lake Host Timesheet 25 Lake Host Volunteer Match Sheet 26 In Memoriam Haley Martin Haley Martin passed away unexpectedly on October 23, 2012. Haley was born on April 9, 1993, and throughout her short life brought much happiness to her parents, family, and friends. She graduated from the Coe-Brown Northwood Academy. During the summer of 2011 and 2012, Haley worked as a Lake Host at Pleasant Lake in Deerfield/Northwood, first as a volunteer and later as a paid Lake Host. She loved boating on Pleasant Lake in her Boston Whaler and was also an avid photographer. She will be greatly missed. New Hampshire Lakes Association (NH LAKES) Lake HostTM Program Goal: To prevent the introduction and spread of aquatic nuisance species—both plants and animals—in New Hampshire’s lakes and ponds. Target Audience: Resident and out-of-state recreational boaters and anglers who launch on public waters, all lake users, lawmakers and the general public. Objectives: To place trained Lake Hosts at public motorized boat launch sites to: educate visiting boaters about aquatic nuisance species by distributing brochures, answering questions, and completing a brief boater survey; conduct courtesy boat and trailer inspections of vessels both entering and leaving public waters; show boaters where to look for hitch-hiking plant fragments on boats and trailers and encourage them to conduct self-inspections; remove and properly dispose of all plant material and other debris found, and; send samples of suspicious species removed from vessels to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) for identification. Program Need: Aquatic nuisance species infestations make recreation in and on lakes and ponds dangerous and unpleasant, they disrupt the ecological balance of waterbodies, they reduce shoreline property values through the reduction of aesthetic and recreational uses of the water body, and they are difficult and expense to control once they infest a waterbody. The main way nuisance aquatic plants and animals are spread in New Hampshire is through the transportation of fragments or on boats and trailers from infested waterbodies to uninfested waterbodies. Background: In 2002, NH LAKES received a two-year grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as a result of an appropriation secured by U.S. Senator Judd Gregg. The grant supported a comprehensive exotic aquatic plant education and prevention program involving the creation of two videos, the development of plant identification cards, and the staffing of public motorized boat ramps with trained Lake Hosts. Also in 2002, state legislation was passed to raise boat registration fees by three dollars, effective January 1, 2003. The money collected by this increase, approximately $300,000 per year, would fund milfoil and other exotic plant prevention and research activities through a grants program administered by NHDES. Up to two-thirds of this amount would be available annually as grants to support exotic aquatic species education and prevention activities (such as the Lake HostTM program). In 2010, this amount was legislatively amended to up to three-quarters. In the winter of 2003, NH LAKES applied for, and was awarded, a $165,000 grant from NHDES to administer the Lake HostTM program that summer. Subsequent state grants for 2004 through 2012 are indicated below. Lake Host Program Statistics 2002 – 2012 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Number of 38 46 51 56 57 68 70 71 74 73 77 Participating Organizations Number of Paid Lake 102 149 190 175 204 221 240 236 230 219 238 Hosts Number of Volunteer 59 167 216 318 353 429 470 420 517 475 500 Lake Hosts Number of Lakes and 37 45 50 56 56 64 70 71 74 74 78 Ponds with Lake Hosts Number of Ramps 45 59 61 61 66 83 88 86 90 92 100 Covered Number of Inspections 15,878 26,583 31,629 34,878 34,573 44,183 55,924 53,756 62,295 68,158 77,254 Conducted Number of “Saves” 4 7 16 54 54 157 224 297 267 39 137 (exotic plants found) Federal Funds $260,100 $10,000 $85,300 $35,000 $117,000 $117,000 $89,206 $89,206 $0 $0 $0 State Funds $0 $165,000 $150,000 $185,000 $185,000 $185,000 $161,000 $123,333 $133,367 $169,000 $200,000 Private Foundations $4,000 $22,000 $23,000 $14,500 Local Match (hard cash $37,155 $112,382 $151,238 $200,756 $183,179 $292,017 $334,061 $341,535 $393,273 $404,751 $475,477 and cash-equivalents) NH LAKES match $32,944 $23,000 N/A $4,370 (Programs and Staff) TOTAL PROGRAM $297,255 $287,382 $386,538 $420,756 $485,179 $594,017 $584,267 $591,018 $571,640 $596,751 $694,347 Additional Funding Sources: State grants require a dollar for dollar match in hard cash and/or cash equivalents.