The North American Lake Management Society annual meeting was held last week in Hartford, CT.  Aquatechnex biologists presented a paper on the progress made on the Lake Pend Oreille Eurasian Milfoil Project over the past six years. 

Eurasian Milfoil 2006 Pre Treatment

We began working on this project in 2004 at the request of Bonner County’s Public Works Department.  Eurasian Milfoil at that point was having a stunning inpact on this lake and river system.  In 2005 our team performed a mapping mission over 90 miles of shoreline and detected over 6,000 acres heavily infested with this noxious aquatic weed.  In 2006 we deployed to target about 4,000 of these acres using ISDA funding.  The primary tool used that summer was Sonar PR aquatic herbicide.  The majority of those acres treated in 2006 remain milfoil free during the summer of 2009 gaining four years of control from that first application.  Areas in the river with higher water exchanged were targeted with selective aquatic herbicides.  Treatments during 2007 and 2008 further reduced these populations.  By the time our team began work in 2009, the milfoil populations had been reduced from a peak of 6,700 acres to under 700.

Summer 2009, Renovate Treated area remains milfoil free four seasons post treatment

This past summer a new product, Sculpin was used in conjunction with liquid triclopyr.  Sculpin is a new granular formulation of 2,4-D on a biodegradable pellet.  This material was applied using our new eductor

The University of Florida is again gearing up to put on one of the premier training sessions for aquatic plant managers this coming May.  The Aquatic Weed Control Short Course will be held from May 3-6 at the Coral Springs Marriott, Coral Springs, Florida.  This comprehensive training program helps applicators new to the field or experienced hands.  For more information go to http://www.conference.ifas.ufl.edu/aw/

As many of you know, by April of 2011 the majority of aquatic herbicide and larvacide applications made in the United States will require a NPDES permit.  There are a number of stories on this blog that highlight this development (search NPDES)  EPA is in the process of developing a national general permit that may be adopted by state agencies to meet this requirement.  They recently hosted a webcast on this topic.

Those interested in keeping up to date on this can visit http://cfpub2.epa.gov/npdes/courseinfo.cfm?program_id=0&outreach_id=483&schedule_id=1072 to download those documents.

The NSW Government has published an excellent new guide to the management of Cabomba.  This invasive aquatic species has impacted a number of sites throughout the United States.  Australia has classified this invader as a “Weed of National Significance” because fo the potential impacts on biodiversity of their aquatic systems.  The manual is about 80 pages in length and provides very interesting reading. 

Aquatechnex was happy to provide the photography on pages 43 and 44 of benthic barrier installations.  To download this manual, go to http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/302166/Cabomba-control-manual.pdf

New eductor system eliminates dust and does an excellent job of distributing granular aquatic herbicides

Aquatechnex deployed our new granular aquatic herbicide eductor system on the Lake Pend Oreille Project this past summer.  This system uses a water stream to apply these granular products.  Two eductor systems on the vessel allow us to increase the production rate of the application.  This technology also eliminates any dust from the granular application that occurs when using conventional granular spreaders and removes any possibility of drift.

Aquatechnex applied over 40,000 pounds of Sculpin, a new herbicide that targets Eurasian Milfoil, in about 20 hours of actual application work. 

The vessel is also equipped with a new precision application system.  The GPS application manager shows us the exact path and coverage of the application swath.  It calculated the location of the next pass and shows the applicator steering ques, calculated acres applied and helps better manage the flow of materials in the field. 

These systems are key to helping us target invasive aquatic weeds accurately and will become an important part of our entire application fleet.

My alma mater, Michigan State University, has recently published a report on the use of the Eurasian Milfoil Weevil for management of this noxious invasive weed.  Glad to see my old department putting out useful information.  Go to http://web2.msue.msu.edu/bulletins/Bulletin/PDF/WQ61.pdf

Aquatechnex is pleased to announce our new partnership with Aqua Control, Inc.  (http://www.aquacontrol.com/).  Lake Aeration is a key component of your lake management program.  Aqua Control has recently merged with our longtime supplier of bottom diffuser aeration systems, and this allows us to expand the type of systems we can offer our clients.  We are looking forward to integrating these systems into our overall lake management programs.  Contact our regional biologists to get a better understanding of how these systems can help you manage your lakes and add to the beauty of your environment.

Here are two more excellent publications on the management of Salvinia and Alligator Weed from the Australian Government.

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/89554/salvinia-control-manual-full-version.pdf

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/210444/alligator-weed-control-manual-text.pdf

One of our lakes has been used as the Demo fly over for The Mapping Network.  Give this bathymetry map a look.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXrSnMIsRts&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fthemappingnetwork.wordpress.com%2F&feature=player_embedded

77 acre of this Bay were completely impacted by Eurasian Milfoil prior to 2006 Renovate Herbicide Treatment

Our team is beginning the fourth year of Eurasian Milfoil control efforts on the Pend Oreille Lake and River system in north Idaho.  Control efforts there have reduced this infestation from a coverage range in excess of 6,000 acres to near 1,000 that will be targeted this summer. 

Much of the work performed in 2006 has resulted in complete control four years later in the summer of 2009.  Areas treated with Sonar herbicide such as Perch and Fry Creek have remained milfoil free since.  Another example is Riley Creek Bay.  This site was choked with this weed in 2006 and was targeted with Renovate, a systemic selective aquatic herbicide. 

Four years later, this bay remains milfoil free and is supporting a very diverse community of native aquatic plant life.  This one treatment has provided four summers of Eurasian Milfoil control from one application providing a significant benefit of that application. 

For more information go to the project blog article at http://pomilfoil.wordpress.com/2009/07/19/riley-creek-four-years-after-renovate-herbicide-treatment/