Upcoming Webinar Aims to Help Local Governments with AIS Tools

Learn About How Local Municipalities Can Help Your Community With AIS

On January 22nd from 9am-10am CT, a webinar specifically aimed for local municipalities and governments is occurring! The Local Government Aquatic Invasive Species Toolkit webinar is focused on helping municipalities access the tools necessary to play a role in aquatic invasive species (AIS) prevention efforts. Although a substantial amount of attention has been placed on federal and state invasive species policy needs, there is great need and potential for our municipalities to play a significant role in invasive species prevention efforts by addressing key gaps not addressed by state and federal regulations.

The webinar will focus on introducing a new aquatic invasive species online toolkit for local governments (and others that are interested) and walk through of some regional case studies. The online toolkit is funded by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, is absolutely free, and can be accessed at www.localgovAIS.com. The toolkit is designed to guide local municipalities through the process of identifying high-risk priority AIS and key next steps they could potentially take to advance interdiction efforts. Municipalities have local assistance (such as Fox-Wolf’s AIS Coordinator Chris Acy) in identifying local instances of aquatic invasive species but the webinar will walk through how to best utilize the resources at your disposal to help protect your local lakes and rivers! These local water bodies are an important source of water for your local community and generate significant revenue for communities through recreational and other opportunities. Local municipalities now have this online toolkit to help guide them through potential appropriate actions and strategies that align with state and federal laws, but that help to protect the health and integrity of their local water bodies, and advance AIS efforts overall.