Clean Boats Clean Waters program going strong

During the January meeting of the Oneida County land and water conservation committee, Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) coordinator and conservation technician Stephanie Boismenue updated committee members on the AIS work that has been going on in the county over the last year. Part of that update included the Clean Boats, Clean Waters Program.

The Clean Boats, Clean Waters Program started in 2004 in Minocqua. It has been the most successful and least expensive program in preventing and slowing the spread of aquatic invasive species (AIS). 

Stephanie Boismenue, Oneida County’s Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) coordinator and conservation technician gave the land and water conservation committee an update on staff activities in 2024, which included work with Eurasian water milfoil.
(Submitted photo)

The program involves volunteers as well as paid watercraft inspectors. 

Inspectors cover boat landings throughout the state, talking with anglers and boaters about aquatic invasive species and how to stop their spread. These invaders do not move from lake to lake on their own. They are moved by human beings. That said, the good news is that human beings can also stop the spread by doing their due diligence to keep their watercraft, trailers and gear free of debris and vegetation.

Boismenue reported that, in Oneida County alone, watercraft inspectors had completed 146,780 hours of watercraft inspections. This equated to 438,139 boats. Inspectors discussed preventing the spread of AIS with 680,443 people over the last two decades.

Boismenue also shared a typical watercraft inspection sheet with the committee. Each watercraft inspector completes an inspection sheet for each shift at a launch ramp. They note whether or not the boater had been contacted by a watercraft inspector yet that season and ask whether or not they would be willing to answer a few questions. They then ask if the watercraft had been in another body of water in the last five days. If so, they note the waterbody. The inspector also notes how many people were involved in each contact. Understanding how boats move from various lakes to other lakes can paint a picture of transient boaters and give an idea of the likelihood of an invasive species moving from one lake to another. An example would be if a boat that has recently been in a lake that has Eurasian water milfoil is being launched into a lake that does not have that invasive species. In this case, it would be prudent to make sure all vegetation and debris is gone from the boat, trailer, and any other gear that will be used on that new lake. These contacts can also help boaters and anglers learn which invasive species are present in which lakes and what that might mean for the ecosystem of those lakes. 

In Oneida County last year, five county AIS program staff and 16 lake groups were involved in the Clean Boats, Clean Waters Program. Staff was able to cover nine landings for a total of 1,305 hours logged and 2,818 boats were inspected. Staff made educational contacts with 5,418 people in that time. They also found that only 217 boaters said their boat had been used in another lake within that last five days. Boat landings manned by staff included Hodag Park Boat Landing, Lake Katherine, Stacks Bay on Lake Minocqua, The Highway D Landing on the Rainbow Flowage, The Highway D Landing on Sand and Dam Lakes and the Dam Landing at Willow Flowage.

Where lake groups were concerned, the 16 groups in 2024 inspected 13,975 boats and talked with 32,748 people either heading out onto, or leaving, their lakes. They found 1,413 boats belonging to people they met at their launch ramps had been used on another lake in the last five days. Those groups, when paid and volunteer hours were combined, spent 7,131 hours conducting watercraft inspections over the work season last year. Those groups covered 27 boat landings on 22 different water bodies.

Cumulatively, this equated to 8,436 hours of inspection time, 1,106 of which was attributed to  volunteer hours. 

Boismenue also provided a list of boat landings covered to the committee, 33 in all. 

Oneida County staff, in conjunction with Vilas and Lincoln County staff, also conducted Clean Boats Clean Waters trainings for new watercraft inspectors and refreshers for seasoned volunteers. They conducted two virtual training refreshers and six in-person trainings at various places throughout the county. 

Other AIS news

Boismenue also updated the land and water conservation committee on other AIS-related activities in which county staff took part in 2024.   She noted that staff is trained to identify over 30 targeted aquatic invasive species, all of which are known as NR40 invasives. 

Chapter NR40 is the Chapter of Wisconsin State Statutes that covers invasive species identification, classification and control. This chapter lists those species which are considered restricted or prohibited in the state. The hope is to keep several of these species out of the county, including European frogbit, starry stonewart, spiny water flea, New Zealand mudsnall and quagga mussel. Some of these species are knocking on the door of the county, so to speak, and others are moving into the Upper Midwest. The Clean Boats, Clean Waters Program is one of the main programs looking to help keep those invaders at bay.

Boismenue said county staff was busy working on AIS early detection monitoring as well as water quality monitoring in 2024 as well. As one might expect, this can be a daunting job for staff given  the number of lakes in the county. 

In the way of AIS early detection monitoring, she talked about efforts on various lakes throughout the county. Staff searched for AIS in the littoral zone around the entire perimeter of the lake. The reason for early detection monitoring is the hope that, if caught early enough, any AIS found in a lake can be controlled and possibly even eradicated. Early detection is the best defense once an invasive species has made it to a lake. Of course, the hope is to keep invasive species out completely. 

Early discoveries of an invasive species triggers statewide, regional or local implementation of rapid response and containment strategies, Boismenue told the committee. From there, rapid response efforts allow department staff, lake managers and researchers a better understanding of how that particular aquatic invasive species will move within a lake. Those entities can also look at overall waterbody and watershed health and evaluate the relationship between that and the invasive species that have been introduced. This can help to provide a better understanding of how certain species might act after introduction to specific water bodies.

Boismenue listed a few invasive species that were found through monitoring efforts. Eurasian water milfoil was found in Carrol Lake and Whitefish Lake. Curly leaf pondweed was found in both Pickerel and Sweeney Lakes. New purple loosestrife was found in Hodstradt Lake, and yellow iris turned up in both Lake Julia and Pickerel Lakes.

Staff worked on management and removal of several aquatic invasive species over 2024, Boismenue said. They removed Eurasian water milfoil, curly leaf pondweed, yellow iris, flowering rush from several sites in the county as well as rusty crayfish and invasive snails. Staff, including LTEs, worked on projects such as yellow iris and purple loosestrife management in nearly every corner of the county, she reported. Three streams or rivers were also monitored for invasive and native mussel populations. Native mussels are often an indicator species in streams, pointing to good ecosystem health.

Boismenue also spoke about purple loosestrife management efforts. There is a beetle, the Galerucella beetle, that spends its entire life cycle on purple loosestrife. 

These beetles can be raised in captivity and then released onto purple loosestrife stands on the landscape to help to control those infestations. These biocontrol agents have been found to be specialists in that they do not affect any plants other than purple loosestrife. This makes them a great choice for management, as they do the work with little help once they have been raised and released.

The county maintains two beetle rearing cages in Three Lakes for a project in conjunction with the Three Lakes Waterfront Association, Boismenue said. There were a total of 125 host plants between these two cages. Those cages were able to rear 11,700 purple loose strife beetles that were then released onto purple loosestrife plants. The majority of those were released at sites on Planting Ground Lake in Three Lakes. Cages for this project were provided by the Land and Water Conservation Department (LWCD) and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). This project has been ongoing since 2017.

Another, longer-lived project involves the McNaughton Correctional Facility. There is one beetle rearing cage at the facility, provided by LWCD and DNR. That cage contains 30 host plants and 580 beetles were reared and released from that facility 

The majority of these beetles were transferred to Buffalo Lake, with other beetles being released at various sites throughout the county.

Lastly, Boismenue spoke about the county’s AIS education and outreach work. This includes a great deal of outreach with bait shops as well as lake groups and others. AIS identification and monitoring trainings were conducted with 75 trainees attending those sessions from the Lake Julia Association, the Pickerel Lake Association, the Two Sisters Property Owners Association and the Three Lakes Waterfront Association at their Lake Captain training, covering 22 lakes on the chain.

Staff was also present at several events including Lake Minocqua’s annual picnic, the Six-County Lakes and Rivers meeting, and Boismenue was a presenter at the Upper Midwest Invasive Species Conference, which was the biggest invasive species conference in the country.

Schools and children were also part of the outreach this year, with several youth field days across the county as well as the 14th Annual Northwoods Invasive Species Poster Contest. Each year, hundreds of youth from fourth to eighth grade get involved in this contest, with posters from Oneida County schools available to view in the halls of the Oneida County courthouse up through the poster judging time.

Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].