http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14783548&BRD=2053&PAG=461&dept_id=382906&rfi=6
June 30, 2005
The Houghton Lake Resorter (Michigan)
Houghton Lake a model in EWM fight
By Cheryl Holladay
How Houghton Lake leaders tackled the water’s Eurasian
watermilfoil problem is becoming a model for lake communities
in other sections of the United States. Advertisement
Houghton Lake Improvement Board Secretary Dick Pastula said
the process of eliminating the invasive weed has been recognized
by communities around the country. Chairman Jim Deamud has spoken
at two national conferences and one regional conference and
plans to speak at another national session in September.
The reason, Pastula said, is because Houghton Lake’s
solution was dramatic, fast and effective.
“What happened at Houghton Lake is special,” Pastula
said. The Houghton Lake project took just 20 months from the
time the HLIB was created until the weeds were gone, he said.
Houghton Lake became a mess because “we didn’t
pay attention,” Pastula said. “We’re not about
to let that happen again.”
Pastula has begun presenting a review of the history of the
HLIB and the current status of Houghton Lake, especially in
relation to Eurasian Watermilfoil.
Pastula’s first few Powerpoint presentations were to
the Houghton Lake Tourism Bureau, Lake Township officials and
the Roscommon County Commissioners. Other groups he intended
to address are the Environmental Protection Agency, Army Corps
of Engineers and the other townships surrounding Houghton Lake.
Pastula reviewed the character of Houghton Lake and reminded
his audiences that the lake covers 20,044 acres, has a maximum
depth of 19 feet and has 30.5 miles of shoreline. He said EWM
was the original concern of the HLIB, initially formed as an
ad hoc committee known as the Houghton Lake Aquatic Plant Management
Committee. Under Public Act 451 of 1994, the HLIB was formed
and granted taxing authority.
The tasks of the HLIB were to determine the scope of the improvements
necessary, establish a special assessment district and prepare
statistical data. Pastula said all of the HLIB’s reports
are available at the Roscommon Township Hall.
The HLIB received initial assistance
from Sen. Carl Levin in setting up a meeting with the Army Corps
of Engineers and several university scientists at a conference
in September, 2002, at the MacMullan Center.
As a result of the conference, Pastula said, a management feasibility
study was planned and the HLIB hired some of the presenters
from the conference, including Progressive Engineering of Grand
Rapids and Remetrix of Indiana. The goal was to reduce the 10,800
acres of EWM to the extent possible, Pastula said.
The geopositions of 912 plant survey sites were established
on the lake and have been monitored annually. In 2001, Pastula
said, “milfoil was all over the place.”
A plan was formed in 2002 to control the spread of EWM through
several options. Pastula said the HLIB chose the “sequential”
option, which included the use of the
herbicide, fluridone.
“No Michigan firm was big enough,” Pastula said
to treat the lake itself.
Professional Lake Management of Caledonia
and Aquatic Control of Indiana launched six boats to treat the
lake in May, 2002, by inserting (not spraying as the common
misconception) six parts per billion fluridone at a one-foot
depth.
Surveys were done in July and August of 2001, early August
of 2003 and late August 2004. The 2004 survey found EWM in the
main body of the lake, Pastula said. Already this summer surveys
of the 912 points are completed.
The canals at Houghton Lake are surveyed monthly, Pastula said.
Since 2003, sprigs of milfoil have been located and treated
with a contact herbicide to “knock it down right away.”
Since major treatment began, he said, native plants have increased
and Eurasian Watermilfoil, elodea, Richardson’s pond weed
and wild celery have decreased. Curlyleaf pond weed, which became
prevalent on the South Shore, is harvestable, Pastula said,
and is taken care of with a harvester he dubbed “big yellow.”
Pastula said Central Michigan University
conducted the original water quality tests in 2001 and 2002
and Progressive Engineering tested the water in 2003 and 2004.
Volunteers periodically check survey sites marked with
buoys for chlorophyl and phosphorus.
Last year weevils were reintroduced to the lake, at $1.25 per
head. Pastula said each one is tied to pieces of milfoil, a
process that is very labor intensive. So far, 10,000 have been
placed in McKinley canal.
Plants and water quality will continue to be monitored. Reports
by the HLIB are on file at the Roscommon Township hall and with
the Muskegon River Watershed, and may soon be on the authority’s
website www.houghton-lake.com. The HLIB also publishes a summer
newsletter and distributes email updates to more than 500 people.
Other HLIB projects include creel surveys and a walleye pond,
by contract with the DNR.
©The Houghton Lake Resorter 2005
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