Clean Boats Campaign
You Can Help Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers
By visiting this page, you are already part of the solution. It only takes a few minutes to inspect and clean your boat and other equipment each time you leave the water. Knowing how to do this properly will save time and ensure that your efforts protect our waters from plants and animals that don’t belong. This site will teach you everything you need to know to protect your lakes and streams from harmful aquatic hitchhikers.
Learn How to Clean All Recreational Equipment Properly
First, click here for more information on what steps you should take to clean your equipment every time you leave a waterway.
Clean Boats Mean Healthy Waters
The connection between cleaning your boat and protecting your waters is clear. Aquatic invasives are plants and animals that don’t belong in our waters and cause a lot of damage. Many invasives arrive via international shipping or the pet trade, and are then unknowingly spread by boaters and anglers between waterways.
Safe from the predators and diseases of their native habitat, they reproduce uncontrolled. Once established, aquatic invasives can cause many problems. They can:
- Reduce game fish and other native wildlife populations
- Ruin boat engines and jam steering equipment
- Make lakes and rivers unusable by boaters and swimmers
- Increase the operating costs of drinking water and power plants
- Affect human health
- Reduce property values
Overall, non-native species cost the U.S. $127 billion each year.
In most cases, the best way to manage aquatic invasives is to halt their spread into new areas. That’s why cleaning your equipment every time you leave the water is so important.
Click here for more information on aquatic hitchhikers and other invasive plants.
Congratulations to the winners of our Clean Boats Challenge.
G. Eugene Dawson, Broken Arrow, OK - GRAND PRIZE WINNER!
Brady Kay, Castle Rock, CO - First Prize Winner!
Joseph Pozzi, Burr Ridge, IL - August 2008
Lisa Ottenweller, Odenville, AL - July 2008
Katrina Thatcher, North Augusta, SC - June 2008
Ray Burkhart, Arlington, WI - May 2008
Christopher Harner, Elk Grove, CA - April 2008
Cecilia Witczak, Wall Township, NJ - March 2008
Garrick Bagby, Phoenix, AZ - February 2008
John Bernau, Manchester, IA - January 2008
Noel Folstad, St. Paul, MN - December 2007
Robert Steed, Hayden, ID - November 2007
Pamela Miller, Jacksonville, TX - October 2007
Renee Borders, Rockmart, GA - September 2007
Calvin Steele, Chugiak, AK - August 2007
Tom Holman, Jackson, MS - July 2007
Jeff Williams, Little Rock, AR - June 2007
Sharon Hutson, Batavia, OH - May 2007
The Izaak Walton League of America
Founded in 1922, the Izaak Walton League is one of the nation's oldest and most respected conservation organizations. With a powerful grassroots network of 40,000 members and nearly 300 local chapters nationwide, the League takes a common-sense approach toward protecting our country's natural heritage and improving outdoor recreation opportunities for all Americans. We invite you to learn about our work and to join us in supporting important conservation initiatives in your community. Click here to visit our home page. For more information about our efforts to restore the Great Lakes, please click here.
For more information about keeping your boats clean, click here.
Sponsors
Clean Boats Info
How to Clean Your
Equipment Properly
Outdoor America Magazine
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