Kudos to the State Legislature for voting, “ought to pass” on HB1589, the “Clean and Drain” bill.
This law will require boaters to clean any plants off the outside of their boat and trailer, and to open any drain valves and remove any drain plugs, after exiting any body of water in New Hampshire.
Although it only requires boaters to clean and drain, boaters everywhere are getting the same message: clean, drain, and dry your boat between waterbodies to prevent aquatic invasive plants and animals from hitchhiking from one waterbody to another.
This simple, three-step practice has proven highly effective in preventing the spread of aquatic invasives. Variable and Eurasian milfoil are not the only culprits, as we now have Asian clams in some waterbodies and zebra mussels are on our state borders.
When these plants and animals get established in lakes they can disrupt all kinds of uses – from industrial to recreational. Boating is great fun and something almost all of us do at one time or another. So, we all have a part of this responsibility to keep our lakes and rivers healthy and free of aquatic invasive plants and animals. Let’s all clean, drain, and dry our boats whenever we take them out of the water (preferably away from the water). Now, on to the Governor’s desk so that this simple practice can become law.
Tom O’Brien
Concord