On Thursday August 15, 2013 an outreach program was held for water preservation and protection at Henrys Lake. It was hosted by Bryce Fowler from the Fremont County Weed Control department. Many other key organizations also attended, including Phil Barker and Larry Mcmillan from the Henry’s lake foundation.
It was an excellent opportunity to get up to speed on what it takes to protect our water resources and visit with the greatest of authorities on the issues. As you are all aware water is the single most important resource we have in Idaho. It is not only the key component to establishing and maintaining agriculture it is also brings in millions of dollars in recreation.
It was an excellent opportunity for the foundation to integrate into the aquatic protection arena as well as learn what is being done to protect this valuable resource and how to identify the desired aquatic ecosystem players and how to determine the possible invaders.
One of the single most authoritative figures in aquatic invasives management – Professor William (Bill) Haller from the University of Florida was in attendance. Bill was originally brought to Idaho many years ago to help Idaho build protocol for reducing the impacts of Eurasian water milfoil as well as our Invasive Species program such as the Quagga/Zebra mussle program.
Bill will be traveling with Tom Woolf, Idaho State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) Aquatic Program Manager, as well as Amy Ferriter (CPS) – former Aquatic Invasive Program Coordinator for ISDA. Our local contact for help from the ISDA is Matthew Kreizenbeck. He is located in Idaho Falls. He has volunteered to review any picture of suspected invasive specie that you may find. Simply email it to him at matt.kreizenbeck@agri.idaho.gov.
Remember, it is incumbent upon everyone who uses any kind of watercraft or wades in our rivers and lakes to stop the spread of invasive species. Inspections can only do so much so the foundation encourages everyone to do their part.