ABSTRACT: In the world of invasive species, early detection is crucial – for instance, finding a water-chestnut infestation at a lake when the infestation is only a few plants and manageable by hand-pulling not only saves time and resources, but also helps preserve New York’s biodiversity by preventing the infestation from growing to the point of being unmanageable. This year, NYNHP has conducted a pilot GIS analysis using data from two different datasets to help guide on-the-water survey work by staff and volunteers at organizations across New York next summer. The pilot project focused on 14 key aquatic invasive species.
The Watercraft Inspection Program Application (WISPA) data contains: (1) the waterbody from which a watercraft was retrieved, (2) which invasive species were observed on the watercraft (if any).
The statewide iMapInvasives platform contains data about the spatial distribution of invasive species.
Analyzing these data in a geospatial environment allows us to compare waterbodies in which watercraft are exiting with certain aquatic invasive species attached, but no known records of the same species exist in the waterbody. These waterbodies could thus be considered “suspicious” in their possibility of containing an infestation of the invasive species and should possibly be further examined for presence. The results of this analysis will be made available to the NY’s eight Partnerships for Regional Invasive Species Management (PRISMs) for their use in planning 2019 field work.
