EWM Reports, 2025

IMPORTANT MESSAGE REGARDING EURASIAN WATERMILFOIL (EWM)   Wed, Oct 22, 2025 From Barry Cahoon, EWM Management

    First, on behalf of the JPA EWM Management Committee, I wish to express my appreciation and convey thanks to all JPA members who have contributed physically, financially, organizationally, even spiritually, or in any other way to the efforts of the association to contain, control, and manage the Eurasian Watermilfoil infestation over the past season.

    Several newsworthy items of interest have occurred recently that seem appropriate to share with the membership so that you all are as informed about EWM management status in Joe's Pond as you may wish to be or should be.

    Arrowwood Environmental has conducted a post-treatment (ProcellaCOR) aquatic plant survey that is required under the Aquatic Nuisance Control Permit issued to the JPA by the VT Agency of Natural Resources.  JPA has not yet received the final report (it is several weeks out, according to AE, due to their time commitments nearing the end of the field season).

    But in conversation with Michael Lew-Smith of AE, in summary, the AE survey determined that 100% mortality of EWM was achieved throughout the two herbicide treatment areas along Sandy Beach and Channel Drive.  It also appears that complete, or near complete mortality also occurred in areas adjacent to the treatment zones including the entire littoral zone from the big island to the Island Drive shoreline and the Clubhouse Circle cove.  Additionally, no surviving EWM has been found in the area of the Joe's Brook inlet or other areas adjacent to the Sandy Beach treatment zone.

    Michael also indicated he did observe some observed herbicide toxicity to non-target species including the native Northern Watermilfoil and Water Lily.  Magnitude of which was not specified.  More detail will undoubtedly be provided in the AE report.

    A follow-up aquatic plant survey is also required next growing season (2026).  Post-treatment surveys conducted in other VT lakes in which ProcellaCOR has been applied, and toxicity noted to non-target species, have all shown quick recovery of the native plant populations, even expansion into the areas within which EWM had previously established a dominant presence.  It is anticipated the same pattern will be observed in Joe's Pond and the 2026 survey will hopefully confirm that.

    Also required under the ANC Permit is an annual Pesticide Minimization Measures Report in which JPA is obligated to document every action that was taken and implemented which would serve to avoid or minimize the use of herbicides.  That report was filed with VT ANR and is attached.

    After overcoming a couple of manufacturing glitches with the SNUBA unit, it has been operating flawlessly for a couple months now and has been supporting and enhancing the JPA dive team operations.  Most recently, under JPA President Joe Hebert's initiative, a 6 month extension of the warranty on the SNUBA compressor was obtained.

    The JPA EWM Management Committee has elected to move forward in an attempt to gain approval from the VT Departments of Fish & Wildlife and Environmental Conservation to construct a boat wash and decontamination station at the DF&W boat access area.  The committee feels that despite the fact that EWM is already in Joe's Pond, there are more invasives out there lurking of which we should be doing everything in our power to prevent introduction, and that the JPA has a responsibility to ensure EWM is not being exported from Joe's Pond to other currently non-infested lakes.  

    To this end, a wetlands delineation at the boat access has been completed by Arrowwood Environmental.  We are presently seeking additional engineering services to assist in development of a preliminary design plan to present to DF&W (as the facility would be on their land) and, assuming we receive DF&W approval, then prepare and submit a Wetlands Encroachment Permit application.  Hopefully (and ideally), this process can be completed over the winter and JPA will be able to have the station constructed and operational sometime during the next summer season.

    The JPA dive team, under Jim Bernotas' leadership, has continued hand harvesting operations right up until mid-October despite water temperatures dropping down into the 50's.  Dive operations have now largely been suspended, and Jamie Stewart's amazingly reliable support boat has been pulled out of the water for the season.  But don't be surprised if Jim and his niece Josie Cicia are seen back in the water at least one more time.

    The most concerning and disheartening piece of news is the discovery in mid-September of extensive infestations and establishment of EWM in the First Pond and then in early October of the Second Pond.  Six dive sessions were conducted in the First Pond and three in the Second.  Complete removal has not been accomplished.

    If the same pattern of explosive and unrestrained EWM growth and expansion that we observed at Sandy Beach and Channel Drive between fall, 2024 and summer, 2025 (despite intensive Diver Assisted Suction Harvesting (DASH) and multiple hand pulling operations) is repeated on the First and Second Ponds in 2026, the JPA EWM Management Committee could potentially be considering an extensive herbicide treatment in those two sections of the lake next season.

    The simple fact of the matter is that, up until the ProcellaCOR treatment on 08/13/25, EWM growth, spread and proliferation outpaced all the management and containment resources and efforts we could throw at it.  By mid-July, in the Sandy Beach and Channel Drive concentration areas, hundreds of plants were visible, had grown to the water surface and were expanding and forming mats of plant material.  At that time, the dive team elected to suspend operations in these two concentration areas as we felt we would be causing more fragmentation and contribution to proliferation than the benefits we could achieve.  We also knew at that point that the herbicide treatment option was open to us because we had received the ANC permit.

    We have learned an awful lot about EWM management over this past season, being our first full year at it (and acknowledge there's still plenty more still to learn).  An important element of this learning curve is understanding what it is about EWM and Joe's Pond that makes control and containment so difficult (if not impossible by non-chemical management means).

    It is clear that the propensity of EWM to proliferate by fragmentation is its most effective biological survival and expansion strategy.  Three important mechanisms appear to be the primary contributors to fragmentation. \

 

                                                   

       First, EWM will readily auto-fragment, especially later in the growing season (from early August on) as plant stems become increasingly brittle; taking nothing more than boat or wind wake to break off.  Dozens of plant fragments have been observed settled to the lakebed around an individual EWM stalk, many of which will already have rootlets extending off the stem ready to establish and grow another plant. 

       Second, EWM harvesting operations, whether DASH or hand pulling, invariably generate plant fragments; and oftentimes large numbers of them.  We have learned that we must always provide adequate resources patrolling for released plant fragments during harvesting operations.

    The third mechanism is watercraft-induced fragmentation, especially once plants have grown near or to the water surface and additionally, later in the year when more prone to breaking.

    Of these three vectors of EWM proliferation, the first is biological and one over which the JPA has no control.  Of the second, we have the most control.  As stated above, we cannot discount or ignore in any way and must increase our effectiveness at limiting the escape of plant fragments during harvesting operations.

    The third mechanism, watercraft-induced fragmentation, is the vector that deserves the most attention by the JPA membership as we have the ability to exercise some limited control; but it requires the awareness, contribution and participation of all members.  Watercraft operation protocols have been posted on the JPA website.  All JPA members have the ability and responsibility to contribute to and participate in this vital effort to limit EWM proliferation and colonization of additional areas of the lake.

    It seems a logical conclusion, in consideration of the maturity of the plants we have been seeing on the First and Second Ponds, in comparison with those growing at Sandy Beach and Channel Drive prior to the herbicide treatment, that these new areas of proliferation have very likely resulted from EWM fragment drift from the Third Pond during the 2025 growing season aided by the 3 vectors of fragmentation discussed above.

    As EWM effectively colonizes an increasing number of areas around the lake, we can see how proliferation snowballs and containment becomes ever more problematic; even unachievable, especially absent the application of herbicide.  An updated map below shows all the areas to which EWM has spread (of which we are aware) in 2025.  In comparison to this time last year, we knew of only one relatively limited infestation area along the Sandy Beach shoreline.  We still thought at that time that eradication was possible.  This map below shows a tremendous expansion of EWM in just one year.  The hope of eradication is now a thing of the past.  

 

              

Left:Documented EWM establishment in Joe's Pond in 2025

 

    The JPA EWM Management Committee will be working over the winter (meeting regularly and remotely via ZOOM) to evaluate and determine the organizational, infrastructural, and operational enhancements and improvements that can be implemented to enhance the effectiveness of the overarching JPA effort to contain and manage the EWM infestation through 2026.

    But please know, our success at managing the EWM infestation will be much more dependent upon the awareness, participation and dedication of the JPA membership than the work of the EWM Management Committee, the JPA Board of Directors, or any other individual member.  

    Have a happy, healthy and socio-ecologically responsible winter.  

    See you all in the spring.

 

 For the Joe's Pond Association

Barry Cahoon, Water Quality Director

Eurasian Watermilfoil Management Coordinator

One attachment  •  Scanned by Gmail

 

 

2025 Pesticide Minimization Report

Pursuant to Condition #a.15.A. of Aquatic Nuisance Control Permit #4534-ANC-C issued to the Joe’s Pond Association (JPA) and SOLitude Lake Management (SLM) on 07/17/25, the following shall constitute the required “summary of pesticide minimization measures” completed by the JPA during the current calendar year.

1. January, 2025 formed a 10 member Eurasian Watermilfoil Management Committee (EWMMC) to determine and implement the most prudent course of actions in response to the EWM infestation discovered in August, 2024. Members were assigned to the following task areas: Education, Grants Management, Regulatory, Mapping, Survey & Monitoring, Harvesting, and Materials and Equipment Management.

2. January, 2025, began developing and publishing extensive and detailed EWM management information on the JPA website. Continuous updates have been made since then.

3. February, 2025 established digital EWM management mapping program to track locations of EWM occurrence and management activities performed.

4. 02/19/25 Adopted JPA EWM Management Plan.

5. February, 2025 purchased materials and fabricated JPA buoy supply for use in marking EWM establishment and to support geolocation for data entry on the EWM web map.

6. March, 2025 developed, published and distributed educational materials to JPA membership and broader community focused on EWM identification, dangers of uncontrolled proliferation of EWM, actions necessary by lake users to avoid exacerbating EWM spread, and volunteer contributions by JPA membership to support EWM control.

7. April, 2025 mapped lakeshore and littoral zone sections and began recruiting Lakeshore Section Coordinators (LSCs). Established guidance and protocols for littoral zone monitoring and survey, marking EWM locations found, geolocating, and data flow to JPA Mapping Coordinator and Dive Crew Coordinator for hand harvesting.

8. May, 2025 published comprehensive status report of the EWM infestation in the JPA Annual Newsletter urging utmost awareness, attention, and voluntary contributions to the JPA EWM management activities.

9. 05/24/25 distributed educational materials to members attending the JPA Spring Meeting. Made a comprehensive presentation regarding EWM infestation status, outlook and planned control activities.

10. 05/24/25 conducted in-house training for JPA members on EWM identification, LSC responsibilities, survey, marking, mapping and harvesting protocols and distributed marker buoys.

11. 05/25/25 LSCs and JPA member-volunteers commence surveying, patrolling and placement of marker buoy operations by boat, kayak, paddleboard and wading which have continued through September. Total number of hours expended by JPA members conducting this task is unknown at this time but assuredly involves several hundred hours.

12. 05/26/25-05/28/25 participated with Arrowwood Environmental (AE) in conducting a lake-wide aquatic plant survey.

13. 06/07/25 hosted Vermont Invasive Patrollers Workshop conducted by VT DEC with approximately 2 dozen participants.

14. 06/09/25-06/13/25 conducted EWM harvesting operation contracted with VTHozerz involving diver assisted suction harvesting (DASH), hand pulling, and benthic barrier placement. JPA members expended in excess of an estimated 300 hours supporting the VTHozerz operation.

15. Purchased hand-held GPS unit with sub-2 meter precision to enhance geolocation data transfer to the JPA EWM Management web map.

16. 06/14/25 placed floating warning signs around perimeters of areas of most concentrated EWM growth advising boaters to avoid operation, EWM fragmentation and proliferation.

17. 06/21/25 commenced hand pulling operations by the JPA dive team which have continued on an approximately twice weekly basis into October, 2025, typically involving from 3-6 divers and 2-5 surface support members operating from 3-4 hours each day of operation. As of the end of September, 2025, total member-hours devoted to these hand pulling operations including coordination, survey and planning, equipment management, travel time, surface support, fragment retrieval, mobilization and demobilization exceed 700 hours. Hand pulling operations continue into October, 2025.

18. 06/23/25 purchased surface-nexus underwater breathing apparatus (SNUBA) unit to enable expansion of the dive team membership and increase productivity of JPA hand pulling operations.

19. 06/29/25 comprehensive Power Point EWM status presentation made at JPA Annual Meeting that emphasized watercraft operation contributions to proliferation and spread around the lake. Presented watercraft operational protocols to minimize spread.

20. 07/17/25-07/18/25 SNUBA unit delivered and field tested

21. 07/26/25 SNUBA training conducted for approximately a dozen participants.

22. August, 2025, purchased, assembled and erected a modular structure for storage of JPA EWM management equipment.

23. 08/30/25 comprehensive status report and Power Point presentation to the membership attending the fall JPA meeting emphasizing full engagement of the membership in EWM control measures.

24. June-September, 2025 continued monitoring and surveying by LSCs and volunteers, data entry on the EWM Management web map, updating information on the JPA website, occasional educational, informational, and advocacy email distributions to the membership, monthly EWMMC meetings, and hand pulling operations by the dive team.

25. August-September, 2025 researched feasibility of establishment of a decontamination boat wash station at the DF&W boat access area.

26. October, 2025, engaged Arrowwood Environmental to provide wetlands delineation and associated consulting services for preparation and submission of a Wetlands Encroachment Permit application for construction of a decontamination boat wash station.

27. October, 2025, commenced a comprehensive inventory of EWM management equipment and infrastructure needs for 2026 supportive of pesticide minimization efforts

Respectfully submitted to Olin Reed, VT DEC via email by:

Barry Cahoon, Joe’s Pond Association, Water Quality Director, Eurasian Watermilfoil Management Coordinator

10/04/25