One Ontario community is making a name for itself in the world of invasive species removal.
The Coalition of Haliburton Property Owners' Association is in its fourth year of the Mystery Snail Project, in which residents collect and euthanize invasive snails that permeate lakes in Haliburton County and suck the joy out of swimming, boating, and other activities, the Haliburton Echo reported in June.
The CHA has worked with other organizations to eliminate one million snails from area waters, and the undertaking is nothing less than exceptional.
Removing the snails requires a license, but it takes years to get one, and the scope is limited.
"We had a serious problem and needed to develop a system to grant multiple licenses and to get them in the period of a couple of months, rather than years," CHA chair Paul MacInnes told the Echo.
In 2020, the CHA, Invading Species Awareness Program, and Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters created a licensing enterprise to speed up the process and certify many people at once. In 2021, hundreds of volunteers representing 40 lakes passed the training program, and the collecting began in earnest.
"It was a big success," MacInnes said. "We … picked out over 400,000 snails the first year."
The snails give birth to "fully formed" snails and not eggs, which can be eaten by fish, so they will never be eradicated, MacInnes said. They can spread diseases and illnesses and cause swimmer's itch, per the Echo.
Snails may seem harmless, but these relatively small ones are just as damaging to ecosystems as giant ones that have landed in Florida and perhaps New York as well. Like other invasive species, they outcompete native species for resources since they have no natural predators in new environments.
This has a cascading effect on flora and fauna, disrupting the balance that is essential to healthy habitats. MacInnes said it's vital for people to clean, drain, and dry their boats to avoid spreading the snails to new locales.
"I am so incredibly proud of this program and the volunteers we have in Haliburton County," he told the Echo. "We are known throughout the area and in North America for our dedication to lake health."
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