(Photo by Robert Barossi)
by Robert Barossi
People have already started to say that “summer is almost over,” but I’m not ready to go there just yet. It’s still the middle of summer in my mind, the perfect time to be having summer adventures and vacations. One of the most popular activities during the summer is taking the boat out to the local lakes and rivers. When people take their boats far from home, to more distant bodies of water, this can become a serious problem. Invasive species can hitch a ride on those boats and travel with them to other lakes and rivers, finding new homes there. When they do, they can disrupt and even take over ecosystems, with potentially disastrous results. To prevent this from happening, many boat launches host volunteers who work to remove invasive species before the boats hit the water. This story out of Michigan is just one example of how volunteers are working to keep invasive species off the boats and out of the water. There are numerous programs like this, from the Clean Boats, Clean Waters program in Wisconsin to the GREAT Boaters Program in Rhode Island. All of these efforts, with volunteers at the forefront, go a long way towards reducing the potential for serious ecological problems caused by invasive species.
If you’ve enjoyed the stories on this blog, download my eBook – Being Where You Are: How Environmental Volunteers Impact Their Community and the Planet Every Day. Available at the following retailers:
Being Where You Are 