AIS inspections

Hubbard County Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS)
decontamination unit is up and running.
Hubbard County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) has purchased a Watercraft Decontamination Station and has three Department of Natural Resources certified Level II decontamination inspectors available.
The Decon Unit is located at Johnson’s on the Water, a Lake Service Provider in Dorset, on an on-call basis. Contact the Hubbard County SWCD at 732-0121.
The service is being sponsored by Long and Potato Lake Associations. If your lake association or an individual would like to sponsor an afternoon of decontamination for the area, contact the Hubbard County SWCD at 732-0121.
At this time, if a boat is found to be infested with AIS at a Hubbard County access by a SWCD watercraft inspector, the boat will be sent to Johnson’s on the Water in Dorset and the Level II on-call inspector will be called and will meet the boat there.
Area residents interested in boat decontamination may also call the Hubbard County SWCD and make an appointment.
If a resort owner knows that any of their customers will be coming in from infested waters they may call the SWCD, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and an inspector will set up a time, even on the weekends, to meet the boat at Johnson’s on the Water.
Julie Kingsley, SWCD district manager, reports that for the Hubbard County AIS inspections from start date of May 10 through June 23,  Hubbard County SWCD completed 1,942.5 inspection hours, with 2,710 inspections. 
“We have found 24 boats coming into our lakes having vegetation, and four having mud, seed hulls and/or snails on them,” she said. 
Of the boats coming into Hubbard County waters, 42 had water in them and 95 came with their drain plugs still in, both of which are against state law. 
Kingsley reports 165 boats came from infested waters to Hubbard County. Boats from 23 states have also entered Hubbard County waters (Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming ).
Two decontaminations of area residents’ boats were completed. The watercraft had been in infested waters and owners wanted to be safe and not spread AIS to this area.
Remember, it only takes one AIS species to spread AIS, and it is everyone’s responsibility to help keep Hubbard County’s waters healthy and clean.
Questions can be directed to Nate Sitz, Hubbard SWCD water quality/resource specialist, at 732-0121.