Adirondack Park - Eagle Lake Property Owner's Inc.

causing even greater impacts. Some management activities, including education and outreach
efforts, are ongoing for some of these species.
The remaining eight priority species are not known to occur in the Adirondacks at this time.
These include: hydrilla, an aggressive aquatic plant, quagga mussel, a relative of the zebra
mussel, and fishhook and spiny waterflea, (two species of zooplankton). Priority fish species yet
to reach the Park include: Eurasian ruffe, round goby, Asian carp (silver and bighead) and
northern snakehead. All occur in either Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, or New England regions and
have the potential to enter the Park. These species have caused significant negative impacts
elsewhere and would likely do so in the Adirondacks. Spread prevention, including public
education, is an ongoing high priority in order to keep these highly invasive species out of the
Park.
Following are descriptions of each of the eighteen high priority species of concern:
Within the Adirondack Park
Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria)
Purple loosestrife, a perennial, wetland plant that spreads readily by seed has been locally
common in marshes bordering Lake Champlain since at least 1929 (Muenscher, 1930). A native
to Europe and Asia it likely advanced into Lake Champlain from the NY State Barge Canal
where it had become established by the turn of the 19 th century (Thompson et. al., 1987).
Accidental releases from ornamental stocks and transport in raw wool or on sheep may have also
facilitated its spread into the Basin. Purple loosestrife infestations now occur in more than 171
towns in Vermont (Copans and Garrity, 2003) and in an unknown, but considerable, amount of
wetlands within the Lake Champlain Basin of New York and Quebec. Purple loosestrife outcompetes
cattails and other native wetland plants and provides unsuitable habitat for a wide
range of native wetland animals.
In 2003, a researcher at SUNY-Plattsburgh, initiated a purple loosestrife biocontrol program in
cooperation with Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Boquet River Association, and Master
Gardener volunteers. The program is based on the culture and release of leaf-eating beetles
(Galerucella spp.) with defoliating capabilities. They have released beetles at four sites in New
York: Elizabethtown, Peru, Plattsburgh, and Wadhams. Staff and volunteers are conducting a 5-
year post-release monitoring program to evaluate the effectiveness of the biocontrol program.
Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum)
Eurasian watermilfoil, a perennial, submersed aquatic plant native to Europe, Asia, and parts of
Africa, was first discovered in New England in 1962 when it was reported in St. Albans Bay of
Lake Champlain (Countryman, 1975). Now widely distributed throughout North America, the
aquarium trade likely played a role in its initial introduction and spread (Couch and Nelson
1985). A 1976 survey of Lake Champlain showed Eurasian watermilfoil present in all areas of
the Lake and estimated that several thousand acres of the Lake were infested. (Countryman,
1978). This species was also reported found in Eagle Lake in the late 1970’s. Eurasian
watermilfoil continues to occupy an extensive range throughout the Lake and it infests at least 40
other bodies of water throughout the Lake Champlain Basin, and much of the Adirondack Park.
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