Andrew Casler

acasler@ithacajournal.com | @AndrewCasler

Overlooking Cayuga Lake, where the invasive plant hydrilla was discovered in 2013 and 2014, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on Friday announced a bill aimed at stopping the spread of invasive species.

Tompkins County has faced a hydrilla infestation in the Cayuga Lake Inlet and the lake's southern end.

The county also struggles with invasive giant hogweed, among several other invasive species threats.

The proposed 2016 Invasive Fish and Wildlife Prevention Act would require the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to study whether species have the potential to become invasive, and it would allow the federal agency to ban potentially harmful species from being imported to the country and New York state, Gillibrand said.

"In recent years, we've seen many cases of invasive species from other countries," she said. "Dangerous fish, wildlife and insects that aren't meant to live in our ecosystems here, spreading into our Finger Lakes."

Invasive and introduced species cause about $50 billion in annual damage across New York state, Cornell University entomology professor emeritus David Pimentel said in a 2013 interview.

Across the nation, the annual loss is about $220 billion, he said. Pimentel's estimate includes things like tax dollars spent fighting invasive species, higher food prices, and the cost of treating human, plant and animal diseases that were introduced to the U.S.

In Cayuga Lake, hydrilla threatened to grow into a thick mat that robs oxygen from water and makes boat navigation impossible.

"Pretty soon, if you don't do anything about it, as what happened in Florida, you don't have a lake anymore, you have a carpet," said Tompkins County Legislator Martha Robertson, D-Dryden. "Well, maybe some people would like to walk on water, but that wasn't our goal."

Local municipalities have fought to eradicate the invasive plant, and monitoring in 2015 showed the plant was largely kept at bay.

"It may seem like it's about little bugs or little plants — no, it's about our whole economy and quality of life in upstate New York," Robertson said.

Follow Andrew Casler on Twitter @AndrewCasler.

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