Roughly 19,000 people learned more about the dangers of invasive species this summer, thanks to the Lake George Association’s Lake Stewards.

Throughout the summer, stewards were posted at six different boat launches: Norowal Marina, Mossy Point, Hague Town Beach, Rogers Rock, Dunham’s Bay, and Million Dollar Beach.

In addition to talking to boaters about invasive species at the launch sites, the stewards inspected 8,584 boats for invasive species and  removed suspicious specimens from 52 boats before they were launched.

“We had an extremely busy summer,” said Emily DeBolt, the LGA’s director of education and outreach. “Of the 8,500 boats inspected, 1,016 were at risk of bringing invasives into Lake George because they had been in a body of water other than Lake George during the past two weeks. Right now, Lake George has only four invasive species. Some of our nearby water bodies have dozens.”

According to DeBolt, specimens were removed from 52 boats. The LGA removed 22 samples of Eurasian watermilfoil, 9 samples of curly-leaf pondweed, 4 of water chestnut and 2 of zebra mussel.

The stewards also inspected boats returning to the launch after boating on the Lake. From 73 of these boats, stewards removed 15 samples of Eurasian watermilfoil, 6 of curly-leaf pondweed, and 2 of water chestnut.

“Our stewards ask the boaters if they have taken preventative steps to guard against the introduction and spread of invasive species. This year, 75 percent of the boaters said they had,” said Walt Lender, executive director of the LGA. “While this is definitely positive news, and shows that people are becoming increasingly aware of the need to properly clean their boats, we want to see these numbers go even higher in the years to come.”