ATTENTION, PLEASE!

 To the camp owners along Channel Drive, Sandy Beach, Meadow Lane, Island Drive and Clubhouse Circle:

As a natural part of its growth cycle and an element of its evolved reproduction and propagation strategy, Eurasian Watermilfoil (EWM) becomes extremely brittle and vulnerable to fragmentation as it approaches the end of the growing season in August.  The drift and spread of detached or broken off EWM fragments is its primary mode of proliferation.  The attached photo shows a small piece of EWM sending out rootlets starting to grow a new plant.

The JPA has observed today (08/02/25) that even turbulence from a kayak paddle will now break off fragments of EWM and contribute to its spread.

In addition, many dozens of plants, particularly in the area between the islands and Channel Drive, have now grown to the surface and are extremely vulnerable to fragmentation by watercraft of any kind.  In addition, the density of EWM is beginning to form surface mats.  See the attached photos.

The JPA has considered attempting to target and remove EWM plants that are near or have reached the surface, but its fragility and vulnerability to fragmentation has led us to decide that such an attempt would be counterproductive at best.

The JPA continues to urge all watercraft users of Joe's Pond to avoid boating through the signed EWM concentration areas along Sandy Beach and Channel Drive and all littoral zones (shallow water areas) around the entire lake as this is an extremely critical time due to EWM vulnerability to fragmentation.

Camp owners along the Channel Drive shoreline in particular are urged to restrict your watercraft usage through the signed area only to when absolutely necessary at least until completion of the scheduled herbicide treatment on 08/13-08/14/25.  The JPA recognizes fully how constraining this request is but weighs its issuance against the health of the lake and our campaign to contain this EWM infestation.

Your assistance and contribution to this goal is greatly appreciated.

Joe Hebert, JPA President

Barry Cahoon, JPA EWM Management Coordinator

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The bold text in the above message was added by me, Jane Brown - it was not original to the message. 

I just want to add that every time we get an update on our milfoil situation, my heart sinks because it only seems to be getting worse. The crew that is trying desperately to control the stuff continues to dive on a regular basis, exploring for and marking new outbreaks, and we so appreciate their efforts. It is important to support them however we can, and staying well away from those areas where milfoil has been found is critical. I know this is difficult, especially for the folks who have cottages in the area of the channel and along the north and west shores who want to be able to enjoy being at Joe's Pond, using boats, swimming, or fishing from your docks. We hope that this year's inconvenience will pay off, the spreading will stop, and the existing outbreak controlled by the August 13th treatment so that next summer there won't be an invasion of milfoil and we can get back to "normal". That hope makes it worthwhile to comply because if milfoil continues to spread, none of the water activities I mentioned above will be available in a very short time. We need to get this done now.