New NY State Invasive Species Rules for Boaters

Due to some poor judgement on my part way back when we set up the Sebago calendar in the Spring, I am finding myself in a bit of a time squeeze here in the 2nd half of September. Been wanting to come back and do a wrap-up post on my Hudson River trip, plus last weekend was interesting, but I just haven't got much time for the blog. However, I did want to share some information that was sent to me a couple of weeks ago by "Ol' Philosophizer" who used to maintain a very entertaining blog (sadly gone now although they still have some good trip reports) for the Malden Yacht Club kayaking club in Malden, NY. I actually would have loved to meet Ol' P and his Malden friends during my trip down the Hudson, they seem like a fun crew, but I have a LOT of friends along the Hudson and after sending out "hey I'm doing the Watertrail, let's get together" emails to a half-dozen different people it finally sank in that every get-together was going to require logistical planning and I should probably stop where I was (worked out to a nice balance of solo time and social time).

However, Ol' P did see that I'd been through his bit of the Hudson (Day 2, Malden is just north of Saugerties), and that reminded him to send me a note he'd sent out on TopKayaker.net about a recently enacted NY State law concerning launching and landing practices for all watercraft. I hadn't heard about this and I wanted to pass it on.

*********** 

"This may be of interest to anyone who currently kayaks in "public waterbodies" in New York, or plans to do so in the future. 

Yesterday, a law was signed to help prevent the spread of invasive species. As you can tell from the following definitions, it will apply to all watercraft, whether motorized or not: 

 (A) "WATERCRAFT" SHALL MEAN EVERY MOTORIZED OR NON-MOTORIZED BOAT OR VEHICLE CAPABLE OF BEING USED OR OPERATED AS A MEANS OF TRANSPORTATION OR RECREATION IN OR ON WATER. 

 (B) "LAUNCH" SHALL MEAN TO PLACE A WATERCRAFT OR FLOATING DOCK INTO A PUBLIC WATERBODY OR ANY INLET OR OUTLET TO SUCH WATERBODY FOR ANY PURPOSE, INCLUDING BY TRAILER OR OTHER DEVICE OR CARRYING BY HAND A WATERCRAFT INTO THE WATERBODY. 

 The law will require (it's effective date is delayed for one year) that all boaters take "REASONABLE PRECAUTIONS SUCH AS REMOVAL OF ANY VISIBLE PLANT OR ANIMAL MATTER, WASHING, DRAINING OR DRYING AS DEFINED BY THE DEPARTMENT PURSUANT TO RULES AND REGULATIONS," the department referred to being the Department of Environmental Conservation. 

Earlier this year, the DEC promulgated similar regulations for all watercraft launched at DEC maintained boat launches, and those regulations required that the boater, before entering or upon exiting the water, “remove all mud, plants and other organisms that might be clinging to it. Materials should be disposed of in one of the Nuisance Invasive Species Disposal Stations installed at many DEC boat launches, in the trash, or at an upland location away from the launch ramp.” 

 Although I have no argument with the policy in question, I am a bit concerned about the eventual procedures. Crafting regulations that apply equally to operators of motorized vessels as well as to those who canoe and kayak will be difficult. Hopefully, a set of recommended practices will be forthcoming within the next year. Until then, recreational boaters in NY should be alert for further information on this topic. Failure to comply could result in a civil penalty as high as $1,000 (on the fourth, or more, offense)." 

Click here for more details.
*************

And here are a few pix of that horrible water chestnut that chokes the quieter  freshwater reaches of the Hudson, taken at one point on my August paddle when I was just blown away at the sheer acreage that has been swallowed by this plant. You can't paddle through this properly, it's too dense. 

 No walking barefoot near the river up there, the seedpods have stout spines that are arranged in such a way that one's always pointing up. 

 Susan Fox Rogers, author of the wonderful book My Reach, was one of the people I did manage to meet up with during my trip; she mentioned that one way she likes to teach kids about the dangers of invasive species is by taking them out in the Tivoli Bays and having them spend some time pulling this stuff. Makes sense - you could pull for hours and not make a visible dent (and if you did, the dent would be gone when you come back next week). This is just one of the invasive species whose spread the new law is intended to fight. Read more about the dreadful stuff here.