http://www.madison.com/tct/news/index.php?ntid=50166&ntpid=1
August 11, 2005
The Capital Times (Wisconsin)
Poison those lake weeds?
County urged to do study
By Bill Novak
Two Dane County Board supervisors want the county to study using
herbicides to rid the Yahara chain of lakes of invasive exotic
weeds that have choked the lakes for years.
Supervisors Eileen Bruskewitz of Waunakee and Dennis O'Loughlin
of DeForest have introduced a resolution to establish an aquatic
herbicide study committee, to look into the feasibility of large-scale
herbicide treatments on Lakes Mendota, Monona, Waubesa and Kegonsa.
"The people who use the lakes, who live on the lakes,
are having a difficult time," Bruskewitz said. "There's
been a lot of talk about these issues but not a lot of leadership
on examining herbicide treatment to see if it could work on
Dane County's lakes."
Lake residents have been petitioning
the state Department of Natural Resources to consider using
the herbicide fluridone on Madison's lakes to control
Eurasian milfoil and other weeds and algae, after it was shown
to be fairly successful at controlling weeds on a large lake
in Michigan.
Fluridone use on several Wisconsin lakes
has resulted in mixed results, with milfoil growing back a couple
of years after treatments with the herbicide, according to DNR
research scientist Jennifer Hauxwell.
Bruskewitz and O'Loughlin aren't specifically asking for fluridone
to be applied to the lakes, but want a committee to look at
a variety of ways to clean up the lakes as well as looking at
methods tried in the past or in other areas that might help
stem the tide of the invasive exotic weeds clogging the shorelines,
swimming areas, fishing spots and boat channels.
The county has weed-cutting barges working all summer to keep
strategic areas cleared of weeds, and riparian (shoreline) property
owners can contract through the DNR to have herbicides applied
on the water in front of their own property, but more needs
to be done to gain the upper hand in the battle, O'Loughlin
said.
"The weed cutters aren't cutting it," O'Loughlin
said. "The lakefront homeowners, the boaters and the swimmers
deserve to have clean lakes."
County watershed management coordinator Sue Jones said the
Lakes and Watershed Committee will be discussing fluridone at
its Aug. 18 meeting as part of the committee's overall discussion
on how to deal with the lake weeds, to see what monies should
be included in the 2006 budget.
"We've applied for three DNR grants to upgrade our aquatic
plant harvesting plan," Jones said. "This discussion
on fluridone will fit well in our grant applications."
County officials are pushing for long-range solutions to the
weed problem, including cutting down on the amount of nutrients
flowing into the lakes to slow plant growth, but long-range
solutions don't help property owners who want to see something
done now, Bruskewitz said.
"If people can't use their waterfronts because of the
weeds, maybe they should see their property assessments go down,"
she added.
Lake Waubesa resident David Doll could hardly stand the smell
Tuesday after county weed cutters came through and cut the weeds
in front of his lakefront home.
He said the weed cutters do a good job, cutting the weeds one
day and collecting them the next, but this time it was different,
because dozens of dead panfish were scattered throughout the
weed mass.
"When I came home and saw the shoreline I was disgusted,"
Doll said in an email to County Board supervisors and DNR officials,
including pictures of the dead fish entangled in the weeds.
"If I took a bucket of this stuff and put it in your backyard
I'd be arrested," Doll said.
DNR Lake Management Coordinator Susan Graham said the weed
cutting didn't have anything to do with the fish kill, but she
couldn't explain how the fish kill happened.
Doll's experience drives home the frustrations shown by lake
residents.
"When we had flooding a couple of years ago on Lake Monona,
the lake water couldn't move down to Lake Kegonsa because of
the weeds," Bruskewitz said.
O'Loughlin wants to see all parties involved in improving the
quality of the Yahara lakes included on the aquatic herbicide
study committee, including the University of Wisconsin, Dane
County, the DNR and local communities.
"The lakes have a long-range future impact on all of our
communities and if we don't clean them up it could affect property
valuation in the cities, villages and towns," O'Loughlin
said.
Bruskewitz said setting up an aquatic herbicide study committee
might also show that fluridone won't work on the Madison lakes,
but she said something has to be done to demonstrate to lake
property owners efforts are being made to reclaim the area's
best natural resources.
"I know of someone who lives on Lake Kegonsa who said
you could almost walk across the water of the lake because the
weeds were so thick," she said.
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