Milfoil Herbicide Treatment Report

On behalf of the Joe's Pond Association Board of Directors and the Eurasian Watermilfoil Management Committee, we want to express our appreciation for the near 100% cooperation by the membership, your guests, friends and family in the recommended cessation of watercraft operation during and after the ProcellaCOR herbicide treatment that took place on Wednesday 08/13. This was an important contribution on your part to help ensure maximum efficacy of the treatment to achieve Eurasian Watermilfoil mortality.

 

The SOLitude Lake Management treatment crew reported to us that they felt the operation went smoothly and as intended. We will not be able to evaluate the results immediately as it will take 2-3 weeks before the EWM will "lay down," which will be the first visual indicator of effectiveness of the herbicide treatment. A more detailed post-treatment aquatic plant survey is scheduled to be conducted by Arrowood Environmental in mid-late September which will include a quantitative evaluation of the treatment efficacy as well as identifying any possible effects on non-target aquatic species.

 

As of 3:00 PM today (Thursday, August 14), all water use restrictions recommended under the Aquatic Nuisance Control Permit issued to the JPA for this herbicide treatment are lifted except for the following:

• Plant materials harvested within the next 4 weeks (until 09/10) from the treatment areas should not be composted
• Please refer to the ProcellaCOR EC Specimen Label at:  https://www.joespondvermont.com/uploads/1/3/5/0/135099842/procellacor-ec-label.pdf  for any additional use restrictions related to irrigation utilizing water from the treatment area

On a precautionary note, please do not get the impression that it's OK now for watercraft operation through the treatment areas. It is our understanding that until the EWM is laying flat on the bottom dead it still has the potential to fragment, root, and regrow in a new location. Camp owners bordering the treatment areas (Sandy Beach and Channel Drive) should continue to minimize your trips for lake access and egress and exercise due caution when you do pass through these areas. 

 

Also, this is not the time to relax our vigilance for new outbreaks and emergence of plants in outlier areas

We must maintain this commitment until the end of the aquatic plant growing season (which can't be precisely defined but is tending to extend later and later into autumn as our climate continues to warm).

All this treatment has (potentially) accomplished is to give us a little breathing room. This EWM infestation is a lurking monster with immense capabilities for survival and proliferation that are really quite astonishing. It is at times extremely disheartening to realize what a resilient adversary with which we are struggling, but we will soldier on and we will refuse to lose faith that we can prevail and at least achieve some level of relational equilibrium within which we can sustain our traditional uses of the lake and be able to manage and contain EWM in the long term within our financial and human resource limitations.

 

Hopefully we will have a more definitive update on treatment efficacy by the fall JPA meeting on 08/30.

 

Hope to see you all then.

 

Joe Hebert, JPA President

Barry Cahoon, JPA EWM Management Coordinator

 Here is a picture of the workers yesterday, taken from Sandy Beach Road by Gretchen Farnsworth. Thank you, Gretchen.