|
Weeds are choking
Quaboag Pond
Endangered plants
complicate problem
Frederick A. Smock
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
BROOKFIELD- When Selectman
Beverly A. Lund took her grandchildren out on Quaboag Pond to go
fishing, her boat's 3.5-horsepower motor couldn't power its way
though the thick weeds that cover most of the shallow pond.
"I went over to my favorite
spot," said Ms. Lund, who has a home on the shore of the pond. "I
couldn't get through the weeds. I tried rowing and I could not
even row the boat because the oars kept getting caught in the
weeds."
What stopped the motor was
Eurasian watermilfoil, a highly invasive and aggressive species
that is native to Europe, Asia and North African, but which has
spread across much of the United States and Canada, choking lakes,
river, reservoirs, streams and small rivers with its dense growth
of leaves and stems that float just below the water's surface.
No one knows just how or exactly
when the plant got to the United States, but there are two main
theories: It was tossed into the water in the Washington, D.C.,
area by someone cleaning out an aquarium, or it entered the
Chesapeake Bay riding on the hull of boat from overseas.
Some investigators say the plant
arrived in the 1940s, but other researchers believe it may have
been here much earlier, perhaps since 1900 or even before that.
Regardless of when or how it got here, the fast-growing plant,
mostly likely attached to boat hulls or boat motors, spread from
the Chesapeake Bay area across the country.
Today it can be found in lakes
and ponds in almost all of the states in the continental United
States and in Alaska, and Canada as well.
Ms. Lund said the heavy growth of
the weeds in the pond could ruin what is a good recreational lake
and a prime fishing area.
"We are very concerned," she
said. The state is rebuilding the fishing ramp on the lake, but
Ms. Lund is worried that it will soon become so choked with weeds
that boaters will not be able to use it.
The problem facing town officials
and lake association members in Brookfield is unique. Mixed in
with the nuisance Eurasian watermilfoil in Quaboag Pond are three
aquatic weeds that are considered endangered species. The state
has told the association it must hire a botanist to map out the
locations of the endangered plants and work out a plan to protect
them while treating the milfoil.
"We will never eliminate the
weeds in North Pond (Quaboag). The chemical treatment is just a
way to give some relief on a temporary basis," said Donna Grehl,
president of the Quaboag-Quacumquasit Lake Association.
The two ponds, although joined by
a canal, are totally different bodies of water, she said.
Quacumquasit or South Pond was treated for weeds last year and
just about none of them reappeared this year, she said.
Quaboag or North Pond is
basically a "widening in a river" and is very shallow, she said.
Right now North Pond is, for all intents, unusable because of the
thick growth of weeds, she added.
The complicating factor affecting
weed control efforts is the presence of the four rare plants:
Dwarf Bulrush, Long's Bulrush, Vasey's Pond Weed, and a
"suspected' plant known as Alternate Flowered Milfoil. This plant
has not been seen in Massachusetts since 1897 but may be in the
pond, she said.
The requirement to hire a
botanist has slowed the process of initiating weed control in the
pond, which has frustrated association members, she said.
"There is one plant in
particular, I don't remember which one, which can not be
definitively found until sometime late in August," she said. "That
has eliminated any possibility of doing any weed treatment this
year."
The association is hoping that
the necessary information on the endangered species can be
obtained in time for chemical treatment next year.
"Right now the pond has been
rendered useless," she said.
Mrs. Grehl said the long-term
goal of the association is to have a regular maintenance program
to control weed growth.
"It's a progressive program:
Treat it aggressively the first year and keep track. When it comes
back, you put in more chemicals, but it will be less chemicals
because there will be less weeds," she said. "It's the least
expensive, best alternative we have."
While there once were state
grants available to help cities and towns deal with aquatic weed
problems, budget cutbacks have eliminated these funds, according
to state Rep. Anne M. Gobi, D-Spencer. That has left local lake
associations and municipalities as the sole source of funds for
weed control, she said. Ms. Gobi said aquatic weed control is a
major problem in her district and one which generates many calls
from constituents.
"We've got a lot of lakes," she
said. "You go by and you can see where the milfoil has taken
over."
Lee Lyman of Lycott Environmental
Inc. of Southbridge has been dealing with weed control projects on
area lakes and ponds for years. He says the invasive plants can
never be totally eliminated, but good management programs to
control their growth will succeed.
At Lake Wickaboag in West
Brookfield, for example, years of neglect had produced myriad
aquatic plants. Since a treatment program was begun about four
years ago, he said, "that lake is in 1,000 times better shape that
it was four or five years ago."
Since the treatment has begun, he
said, nuisance plants, including milfoil, have almost been
eliminated. That has encouraged more desirable plants to
proliferate.
The objective of a good
management program should be to eliminate the invasive weeds, but
allow weeds which do not interfere with recreation to remain. They
provide cover for small fish and help stabilize the sediment and
nutrients in the water, he said.
"The reason we treat every year
(with chemicals) is to maintain that level of growth," he said.
This year, for example, two patches of milfoil were found in the
lake and treated. "It's preventive medicine to make sure it does
not spread and get worse," he said.
The company treats many lakes and
ponds in Central Massachusetts annually, but sometimes one
treatment is enough.
"A lot of lakes are treated only
once and we don't have to treat them again for several years," he
said.
The herbicides used to control
aquatic weeds are very safe, according to Mr. Lyman. "They don't
harm anything except the plants we are trying to eliminate," he
said.
The Fort Meadow Reservoir in
Marlboro was treated for Eurasian watermilfoil a year ago and a
recent survey turned up only two small plants, he said. "The rest
is all gone and has not come back," Mr. Lyman said.
He said many people incorrectly
assume weed growth is promoted by leaking septic systems that
allow phosphorous from soap and fertilizers to seep into lakes and
ponds. If, on the other hand, there is pea-soup green algae in a
pond or lake, it means there is phosphorous in the water.
Normally, he said, when a project
is undertaken to clean up sources of pollution in the watershed of
a pond or lake, weed growth is not affected.
"The weeds get their nutrients
from sediment," he said.
"That's not to say that you
should not ignore what is going on in the watershed," he added.
"It is important for long-term management."
His favorite tool for an extended
management program is a combination of chemicals and the lake
drawdown process.
"You draw the lake level down in
the fall and expose the weed beds, freeze them and lift them off
the bottom," he said.
When Pierpont Meadow Pond in
Charlton and Dudley needed to be treated for aquatic weeds, the
lake association launched a fund-raising effort. Ann Rose,
association president and a 30-year resident, said the response
was better than she had anticipated. When it comes down to whether
you will be looking out on clear water or a lake covered with
weeds, people will respond, she said.
"We hadn't had weeding done in
probably 30 years," she explained. "It's a small lake and the weed
problem had been getting worse and worse," she said.
A fast-growing, dense aquatic
weed known as Bladder Wort, along with Eurasian watermilfoil, was
endangering swimming and boating, she said.
"We did a lot of fund-raising (in
previous years) and this year, because we really wanted to get it
done. We just asked for money," she said. The treatment this year
cost more than $12,000, she said. A follow-up treatment next year,
if one is needed, will cost about $8,000.
To overcome concerns among lake
residents that the chemicals would affect their shallow wells, the
association mounted an educational campaign.
"We tried to give them all the
information we could," she said.
The association is working under
a three-year weed treatment plan, but may not have to do all three
years, she said. Chemical treatment was the best option for the
lake because there is no way to draw down the water in the winter
to promote winterkill of the weeds.
The results of the herbicide
treatment are already clearly visible, she said. The weeds that
had risen to the surface of the water have disappeared. "Everyone
is happy," she said. |
