Lake George residents upset over uninspected boat launches

Volunteers document out-of-season boat launches raising concerns about invasive species spread at Million Dollar Beach ramp

By Zachary Matson

State officials are not planning to restrict early and late season launches on Lake George despite a small band of residents documenting boats using the Million Dollar Beach ramp nearly every month of the year.

The residents, members of the Lake Stewardship Group of Cleverdale, say the boats could threaten the lake’s 10-year-long run of no new invasive species since they are launching when no boat inspectors or stewards are present.

State and Lake George Park Commission officials say the risk of invasives is lower in the winter months and that a mix of protections and laws already help prevent the spread of invasives while ensuring public access to the water.

The park commission sets an annual May 1 through Oct. 31 regulatory boating season, during which all boats must be inspected before launching. Separately, a state law requires all boaters launching within the Adirondack Park, at any time of the year, to certify their vessel is clear of invasive species.

Since the pandemic, volunteers of the Cleverdale group have informally monitored and documented boats launching through the winter months at the state-owned Million Dollar Beach boat ramp, Mossy Point boat ramp and a handful of other public launches around the lake.

They have recorded scores of trailers at the boat ramps on days not staffed by inspectors. Paying special attention to out-of-state licenses, they recorded recent launches by trailers registered in Indiana, Washington and states throughout the Northeast.

“The concern is some invasive getting in on a boat that hasn’t been inspected,” said Rosemary Pusateri, who maintains a growing list of the winter launches. “(Launches) happened more so this winter when the lake did not freeze.” 

Lake George Waterkeeper Chris Navitsky has backed the volunteers as they sought changes to how the state Department of Environmental Conservation manages the ramp. Hague town board member Steve Ramant has also joined calls asking DEC to do more.

“We feel that it should be locked down whenever there is no inspector there,” Navitsky said. 

In a statement last week, DEC made its position clear: “DEC is not considering steps to further restrict access to this boat launch.” 

DEC noted the agency authorized boat inspectors with the park commission, which staffs the launch during its regulated boat season, to staff launches in the weeks prior to and following the official boating season. Those inspectors can help educate boaters and monitor use, but they cannot enforce the commission’s boating regulations outside the May 1-Oct. 31 season. 

Dave Wick, executive director of the park commission, said he leaves management of the boat launch to the DEC but expressed confidence in the program in place on the lake to prevent the introduction of new invasive species. Wick said the park commission and other partners focus resources on managing the greatest risks, which peak during the summer when plants are growing and boating is busiest. 

In the 10 years since the commission established the inspection program, agency staff have conduted nearly 320,000 inspections and found about 1,300 boats with visible invasive species, according to the program’s 2023 report. About 7.5% of boats inspected in 2023 did not meet the required “cleaned, drained and dry” standard and were required to be decontaminated – the lowest share since the program’s inception and down from over 17% in 2017. 

The inspection program, jointly funded by the park commission, state, local governments and the Lake George Association, cost $672,875 in 2023. 

“We don’t have the resources to do everything at all times,” Wick said. “We put in place the most robust program that really meets the scientific need.”

The park commission in recent years started to extend its inspector program earlier into April and later into November, though not the regulatory authority. Wick said the expanded monitoring gives the commission insight into use and enables continued communication with boaters beyond the regulatory season if weather still accommodates boating.

“All the time we have had the pre-season program, for seven or eight years, we haven’t found any boat with visible plant matter,” Wick said.

Wick acknowledged that the commission does not collect data on how many boats are launching on the lake when the inspectors are not on duty. He also noted the expansion of boatable conditions on the lake as water temperatures warm and the lake freezes over less often. Wick recently penned an article for the Lake George Mirror highlighting the dramatic change to ice conditions on the lake. Records show the lake froze over every year but one from 1900 to 1978. It’s now a “roll of the dice” whether the lake will freeze each winter, Wick wrote.

Brian Greene, aquatic invasive species coordinator at the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program, emphasized the yearlong requirement that boaters entering Adirondack lakes ensure their boat is “cleaned, drained and dry” to prevent the spread of invasives. He also said governments and other stakeholders around the park work to deploy limited resources to the most effective approaches, staffing high-use launch sites during the busy season.

He said the combination of lower boat volume, mostly dormant invasive plants and educational strategies lessens the risk that invasive species spread in the winter, though added that the risk can never be completely eliminated.

“The vast majority of boaters care about our lakes and streams and they are proactive,” Greene said. “We don’t want to keep people from being on the water. These are public waterbodies, and people have the right to access them 365 days a year as long as they are following clean, drain and dry.”