Help Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers – Become a Boat Steward
Boat stewards share invasive species spread prevention tips with boaters. Photo from LCBP.
Looking for an outdoor summer job near the water? Enjoy talking to people about the lake? If yes, consider becoming a Lake Champlain boat launch steward. The Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP) is hiring up to twelve boat launch stewards to work at New York and Vermont public boat launch access areas during the steward program’s 12th season. The stewards help to reduce the spread of aquatic invasive species by identifying high-risk boats for courtesy inspection and providing information about invasive species spread prevention.
During the first ten years of the program, LCBP stewards surveyed nearly 83,000 boats and spoke to more than 181,000 visitors about steps to take to ensure their boats and equipment were cleaned, drained, and dried. Over eighty percent of visitors to Lake Champlain reported that they are trying to prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species.
“We look forward to continuing the strides made in the boat launch steward program in 2017. With stewards now stationed on Missisquoi Bay in Québec distributing outreach materials translated into French, we are now sharing the same messages all around the shores of Lake Champlain,“ said Meg Modley, LCBP Aquatic Invasive Species Management Coordinator. To help prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species from high-risk vessels into the many lakes in the Basin that don’t have invasives, LCBP will also expand decontamination efforts at New York and Vermont launches.
Stewards generally work eight-hour days for approximately thirty-two hours per week at select boat launches around Lake Champlain from Memorial Day to Labor Day weekend. Weekend work is required because those are times of high activity at the boat launches. For more information about the boat launch steward program contact Meg Modley at the Lake Champlain Basin Program (802) 372-3213. Applications are due to the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission by Friday, March 9, 2018. Follow this link to submit an application: http://www.lcbp.org/about-us/careers/.
