Summer ‘08 Newsletter – Special Report

EXOTIC SPECIES COMMITTEE REPORT  
Bill Craig, Bill Ooley, Dick Yoch

Another Eurasian water milfoil (EWM) season has started.  In spite of good snow cover on the lake last winter and a cold spring, we have abundant EWM this season.  On the 20th of March the Lake Association applied to MnDNR for a permit to treat 100 acres of EWM.  At the same time, we filed an application for reimbursement of treatment costs to control EWM. On June 10th, Jacquelyn Bacigalupi (MnDNR Habitat Specialist) and Chip Welling (MnDNR Eurasian Water Milfoil Coordinator) inspected the spots that we were planning to treat and did not find enough EWM to make treatment permissible.  During the next few days, several persons reported the presence of much more EWM than MnDNR had discovered. On June 20th, we asked MnDNR for a re-inspection.  On June 26th Jacquelyn Bacigalupi, Patrick Selter of Professional Lake Management (PLM is the contractor that did our EWM treatment last year and also does our water quality testing) and this entire committee toured the lake again. This trip revealed abundant EWM and resulted in the issuance of a permit to treat 28.4 acres.  Jacquelyn’s opinion was that the majority of the EWM that is in the lake is in patches that are too scattered to be effectively treated and/or is in areas that boaters could easily avoid. Kim Winter signed the permit and the grant agreement and we were awarded a grant for up to $18,000.  PLM is scheduled to treat the 28.4 acres listed on the permit on Friday July 11th. As required by law, the areas that are treated will be marked with floating buoys and the lake accesses will be posted.

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This summer PLM will be conducting a point intercept survey of all the vegetation (both native and exotic) that is growing in the lake. This survey is critical to our goal of developing a long-term plan for yearly control of exotic species.  MnDNR will use the data identified in the survey to help them determine what treatment will be most effective in controlling the exotic species and will do the least harm to the native species.

All persons dealing with EWM admit that complete elimination of EWM in a body of water is not possible.  However it can be controlled so that it doesn’t become a major problem.  MnDNR rules state that EWM can only be treated if it interferes with navigation or if infestations cannot be easily avoided.  Using this definition, EWM directly in front of lakeshore homes could be considered to be not easily avoidable by boats coming and going from the shore.  Using this idea, our long-term plan might be to target a section of the lake shoreline and perhaps some distance away from shore and into the lake. If treatment of that area is required, we would ask each property owner in that area to sign an agreement that would allow treatment of the targeted area and then the Lake Association would treat it.  Each year we would target and examine a different section of shoreline so that each section would be the target once every 5 years.  Another plan might be that we would treat EWM whenever a patch reaches a size where treatment is most effective (perhaps 20 acres.)

The last issue for consideration is funding. This year we will have the benefit of some State of Minnesota funding and some financial help from the Meeker County Association of Lakes, but we can’t plan on those funds from year to year. We will be working to identify a way to raise the money necessary to fund the needs of a long-term plan. Donations are certainly a great way to raise money and are much appreciated, but an effective exotics management plan can’t rely on donations alone. Some lakes have established shoreline districts and/or watershed districts that ask each property to contribute so that lake treatment is paid for by all the properties that benefit from the treatment. The committee that is working on this problem is just now getting started so more information will be coming as their planning moves forward.

As always, if you have questions or comments, please contact any member of the Exotic Species Committee or any board member. Have a good summer season!