Lake Champlain is one of the largest freshwater lakes in the United States, with 435 square miles of surface water, more than 70 islands, and 587 miles of shoreline. It is 12 miles wide at its broadest point and reaches depths of more than 400 feet. The Lake flows from Whitehall, New York north almost 120 miles across the U.S.-Canadian border to its outlet at the Richelieu River in Quebec. The Lakes watershed, known as the Lake Champlain Basin, encompasses an area of 8,234 square miles in New York, Vermont, and Quebec, Canada and includes hundreds of lakes and ponds and 34 major tributaries. An aquatic nuisance species (ANS), as defined by the Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990, is a nonindigenous species that threatens the diversity or abundance of native species or the ecological stability of infested waters, or commercial, agricultural, aquacultural or recreational activities dependent on such waters. Within the Lake Champlain Basin, dozens of plant and animal species fit this definition. The Lake Champlain Basin ANS Management Plan facilitates the coordination of ANS management efforts throughout the Lake Champlain Basin.