Nichols speaks up for NNY on panel

CANTON — St. Lawrence County Legislator Thomas A. Nichols is fine with being the north country mouthpiece against invasive species.

The Oswegatchie Republican, who rarely lets a legislative topic pass without voicing his opinion, was in his element last Monday when he found out that he was the only Northern New York representative at the state Office of Invasive Species' advisory board meeting.

"Before I was done, the folks there were intimately aware of the problems in St. Lawrence County," he said. "I'm not afraid to jump into the fray and ask questions."

Mr. Nichols was in Albany for the first meeting of the approximately 25-member committee that will inform the state's revamped Invasive Species Council.

At one point, he asked how many in the room live near the St. Lawrence Seaway. He was the only one with his arm raised.

The council is a nine-member group representing state agencies that will decide how to best combat aquatic intruders, ravenous plants overpowering native species and foreign insects creeping their way through forests.

The advisory board will not formally be chartered for at least a month, but Mr. Nichols made an impression.

He made several references to Black Lake, which is being overrun by Eurasian milfoil, an aquatic weed. He talked about round gobies, voracious fish that have taken up residence in the St. Lawrence River. Wood wasps and other creatures on the county forester's radar also were mentioned.

"What we particularly wanted in our advisory committee is to get a lot of diverse perspectives," said Steven J. Sanford of the state invasive species office.

The state has set aside $5 million to combat invasive species. The advisory board was unanimous in declaring that insufficient. Members also talked about procedural difficulties, such as money being reserved for eradication but not management.

"I told them we need to cut some of the bureaucratic red tape and get solutions going," Mr. Nichols said. "We don't want to wait two, three years for a funding mechanism to clear to get stuff done on Black Lake."

The council's next meeting is this summer, and invasive species staff hope to have the advisory committee finalized. The meeting will be in the Adirondacks, which Mr. Nichols took as a small victory.