Invasive Species in NY: Species List, Reporting, and Penalties

Invasive species in NY are regulated under 6 NYCRR Part 575, which sorts non-native plants and animals into a prohibited list that cannot be sold, bought, or moved at all, and a regulated list that can be sold with a warning label but never released into the wild.¹ Penalties start with a written warning for a first individual offense and rise to $1,000 or more for repeat violations, with far steeper fines and possible license loss for nurseries and commercial boat operators.² On top of the state rules, firewood transport and boat cleaning are governed by their own regulations, and federal quarantines add another layer for anyone moving goods across state lines.

How New York Classifies Invasive Species

The regulation took effect in 2015 and uses two categories based on risk.¹

Prohibited species are banned outright. No one may knowingly possess with intent to sell, import, purchase, transport, or introduce them, and the ban covers all life stages.³ Japanese barberry is one of the better-known plants on this list. Garden centers, landscapers, and pet stores cannot carry prohibited organisms at all.

Regulated species can still be legally sold, but every seller must label them in at least 14-point font with the warning: “Invasive Species – Harmful to the Environment.”¹ The regulated list surprises many homeowners because it includes Norway maple, burning bush, goldfish, koi, and red-eared slider turtles. You can buy and keep these; releasing them into the wild is the line the law draws.

Species Residents Are Most Likely to Encounter

Spotted Lanternfly

The highest-profile invasive insect in the state right now. Adults are about an inch long with brown forewings covered in black spots and a speckled band near the tips; the hind wings are scarlet with black spots and white-and-black bars at the rear edge, which makes the insect unmistakable in flight.⁴ They feed on Tree of Heaven but damage grapevines, fruit trees, and hardwoods. The DEC has designated 20 counties as Protective Zones and maintains an Exterior Quarantine on goods coming into New York from quarantined areas in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia.⁵

Emerald Ash Borer

A small metallic-green beetle, three-eighths to five-eighths of an inch long, with a coppery-red abdomen. It attacks every native ash species in New York. The identifying sign is distinctive D-shaped exit holes in the bark, left when adults emerge after one to two years of feeding inside the tree.⁶ By the time the canopy thins or the bark splits, the tree is usually past saving. This beetle is a primary reason New York restricts firewood transport.

Hemlock Woolly Adelgid

A tiny insect that feeds at the base of needles on eastern and Carolina hemlock. The insect itself is hard to see, but infestations produce white, cotton-like woolly masses at the base of needles that are visible year-round and stand out in winter.⁷ A heavily infested tree can die within four to ten years. Hemlocks shade streams enough to keep them cold enough for trout.

Zebra Mussels

Small freshwater shellfish, typically under two inches, usually marked with dark and light stripes (though some lack them). They attach to hard surfaces with strong threads and cluster on hulls, docks, and water intake pipes.⁸ To tell a zebra mussel from the similar quagga, set one on a flat surface: a zebra sits stable on its flattened underside, a quagga tips over. Their colonies filter out plankton native species need and clog municipal water infrastructure.

Hydrilla

One of the world’s most aggressive aquatic plants. Bright green pointed leaves about five-eighths of an inch long grow in whorls of three to ten along the stem, with five being most common.⁹ Stems reach 25 feet and add up to an inch a day, forming surface mats that block sunlight. Small potato-like tubers below the sediment are a key identifier. Heavy infestations drop dissolved oxygen enough to cause fish kills and can lower shorefront property values.

Penalties for Violations

Environmental Conservation Law Section 71-0703 uses a graduated scale rather than a flat fine. For a first-time violation of the invasive species rules, the DEC issues a written warning with educational materials instead of a fine.² After that:

Second offense: up to $150.
Third offense: up to $250.
Fourth or later offense: $250 to $1,000.

Licensed nursery growers, commercial vessel operators, and commercial fishing vessel operators face a steeper scale. A first penalty starts at $600, a second at $2,000, and further violations can trigger license revocation proceedings.² Losing a nursery license or fishing permit ends a business, which is the point: commercial operators move far more biological material than any individual.

Firewood You Can and Can’t Move

This is where people get caught without knowing a rule exists. Under 6 NYCRR 192.5, no person may buy, sell, or possess untreated firewood more than 50 miles from its source.¹⁰ “Source” is the town, village, or city where the trees were grown, and the 50 miles is measured as a straight line on a road map. The rule applies equally to firewood dealers and to individuals hauling wood for personal use.

Dealers must keep records proving their product was grown within 50 miles of the point of sale.¹⁰ The one exception is treated firewood, which has been kiln-dried or heat-treated to a core temperature of at least 71°C (about 160°F) for a minimum of 75 minutes. Treated firewood can travel any distance. If you’re camping in the Adirondacks, buy your firewood locally. It’s both the law and the single most effective thing an ordinary person can do to slow the Emerald Ash Borer and other wood-boring pests.

Boats and the Clean, Drain, Dry Rule

Recreational boats are a primary way zebra mussels and hydrilla move between water bodies. The DEC breaks the Clean, Drain, Dry protocol into four steps:¹¹

Check your trailer, hull, gear, and fishing lines for plants, mud, or debris before leaving the water.
Clean everything you find. If zebra mussels are attached, kill them with water or steam at 140°F before scraping them off, and dispose of the material in the trash or at a disposal station.
Drain every water-holding compartment, including ballast tanks, live wells, and bilge areas, before leaving the access site.
Dry the boat and equipment fully before launching anywhere else. Five to seven days in warm, dry conditions is the recommended minimum.

If you can’t wait for full drying, the DEC’s alternative is soaking all equipment in water at least 140°F for 30 seconds.¹¹ A single trailer carrying a few zebra mussel larvae can colonize an entire lake.

How to Report a Sighting

Reporting fast matters more than people realize. A colony caught in its first season can sometimes be eradicated; the same colony a year later is often permanent. New York uses iMapInvasives, an online database and mapping tool, as its official reporting system.¹²

Before reporting, take clear high-resolution photos of identifying features: close-ups of leaves, wings, bark damage, or shell patterns. Note the date, the location (GPS coordinates from your phone work well), the approximate size of the infestation, and a short description of the surrounding habitat. These details help biologists separate invasive species from native look-alikes.

You have two reporting options. The preferred route is creating an iMapInvasives account and entering your observation directly, which feeds it into the statewide map. If you’d rather not create an account, use the public report form on the NY iMapInvasives website; staff from the New York Natural Heritage Program review public submissions weekly.¹² You can also email the program at imapinvasives@dec.ny.gov. For hands-on help, the DEC funds regional Partnerships for Regional Invasive Species Management (PRISMs) that coordinate volunteers, species-specific guidance, and sometimes direct removal assistance in your area.¹³

Removing Invasives From Your Property

Property owners can handle small-scale plant infestations with physical removal, but how you dispose of the material matters as much as pulling it. Tossing pulled plants onto a brush pile or into a compost bin can restart the infestation, because many invasives regenerate from tiny root fragments or seeds that survive composting.

Solarization is the standard disposal method. Put all pulled vegetation, roots included, into thick black plastic bags, seal them, and leave them in direct sunlight for several weeks. Internal heat kills seeds and roots, and the sealed bags can then go to a municipal waste facility. Bag everything on site rather than dragging loose plant matter across the yard, which scatters fragments.

For aquatic plants, manual removal followed by thorough drying works for small areas. Inspect every tool and piece of equipment for stuck fragments afterward; a single piece of hydrilla stem on a rake can reestablish a colony. Barriers in small waterways can slow submerged vegetation but need regular maintenance.

When You Need a Pesticide Permit

When physical removal isn’t enough, herbicides come in, and New York regulates aquatic chemical treatment more strictly than most people expect. All aquatic pesticides labeled for use in surface waters are restricted-use under state law, so you need a pesticide certification card or a purchase permit just to buy them.¹⁴

If the water body is one acre or larger, you need an Aquatic Pesticide Permit from the DEC under ECL Article 15, regardless of whether the pond sits on your own property.¹⁴ Most applications also require an environmental impact assessment, and a site-specific impact statement may be required if protected species are present. Homeowners may qualify for a simpler Aquatic Pesticide Purchase Permit if the water body sits entirely on their property, has no outlet, and covers less than one surface acre. Either way, the permit comes from the DEC Regional Office serving your county.

For terrestrial invasive plants, targeted methods such as dabbing herbicide directly onto cut stems or spot-spraying individual plants are more effective and less damaging than broadcast spraying. The product label is legally binding; applying a pesticide inconsistently with its labeling violates federal law. For a serious tree pest like the Emerald Ash Borer, hiring a certified arborist is usually the right call, because they carry the licensing for restricted-use pesticides and can judge whether treatment or removal makes more sense for your trees.

1
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Invasive Species Regulations
2
New York State Senate. New York Environmental Conservation Law Section 71-0703 – Penalties
3
Cornell Law School. New York Code 6 NYCRR 575.3 – Prohibited Invasive Species
4
USDA-APHIS. Spotted Lanternfly
5
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Spotted Lanternfly
6
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Emerald Ash Borer (EAB)
7
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Hemlock Woolly Adelgid
8
USGS. Zebra Mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) – Species Profile
9
New York Invasive Species Information. Hydrilla
10
Cornell Law School. New York Code 6 NYCRR 192.5 – Firewood Restrictions to Protect Trees and Forests From Invasive Species
11
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Clean, Drain, Dry
12
NY iMapInvasives. Report an Invasive
13
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Invasive Species Partners
14
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Aquatic Pesticide Permits