Stewards Help Preserve Area Lakes
By: Tina Shively
Updated: July 11, 2012
They're inspecting boats and raising awareness about an environmental problem that could destroy our beautiful lakes.
They're called watercraft stewards, college students hired by the Finger Lakes Institute at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
Since late May, the 11 stewards have covered an area from Skaneateles Lake to Lake Ontario.
They take shifts to educate boaters about the dangers of invasive species.
They ask boaters where the boat was in the water last, and if it's used for fishing.
The stewards teach them how to check, clean, and dry their boats when entering and leaving the water.
Biologists want to prevent zebra mussels, asian clams, hydrilla and blue-green algae from spreading.
Watercraft Steward Kevin O'Brien is a Suny Brockport student, majoring in aquatic ecology.
He said "Ecosystems are pretty delicate, its a fine balancing act. If you throw something in the ecosystem and it hasn't found the time to balance with everything else it can disrupt everything else and cause a lot of problems."
Boater Stacey Lewis added "I agree with it. I think it's a good thing, definitely. We dont want to contaminate the other lakes if there's something bad in one."
The program will continue through August.
