The Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area of Paddle Antrim and Charlevoix, Antrim, Kalkaska and Emmet counties held a Mi Paddle Steward training on Walloon Lake on Friday.
“I want to make sure these lakes are crystal clean and pristine for my children and future generations,” said Deana Jerdee Paddle Antrim, Managing Director.
The emphasis is on teaching kayakers, snowboarders and canoeists how to identify invasive species.
“The paddlers go slow. They can see things. They’re often curious about what’s going on underwater,” said Lindsey Bona-Eggman, program coordinator at CAKE CISMA.
One of the common invasive species in many lakes is Eurasian watermilfoil.
“It can spread easily in fragments, so it will choke out native aquatic plants there and disrupt fish and wildlife habitat in the water,” Bona-Eggman said. “It’s also difficult to launch your boats; to swim, you can get tangled in it and it can actually be quite dangerous for human swimmers.
Paddlers also learned to report it to the Midwest Invasive Species Information Network.
“We rely heavily on educating, raising awareness and training others to be essentially the first identifiers of invasive species,” Bona-Eggman explained. “It helps us keep our eyes on the ground and get that information quickly so we can potentially make early interventions.”
The best way to prevent the spread of invasive species is to clean, drain and dry your equipment. The Association Wallonne du Lac et Conservancy recently installed two high-tech boat cleaners in June.
“The sprayer is high pressure air. We have a livewell vacuum for anglers. They can suck up any extra water to get rid of organisms in the tank. There is a spark plug key, so if you forget your key or need to remove your key before you leave, you can use it,” said Connor Dennis, director of conservation programs at Walloon Lake Association and Conservancy.
