By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
An effort to rid some of Waterford’s lakes and bays of cumbersome plants and weeds with specialized equipment is being tested on a trial basis in early August.
Members of the Waterford Waterway Management District’s Aquatic Plant Management Committee recently provided an update on the initiative, which was first announced in late June.
Committee member Mike Waghorn said weed harvesting will take place over a two-week period of time at select locations within Buena Lake, Starks Bay and Island View Bay.
In all three instances, the work is taking place primarily within navigational lanes and near the center channels of the bodies of water.
A contractor has been selected to perform the work, and $12,000 has been earmarked toward the weed harvesting. In an effort to keep the project within budget, Waghorn said no more than 60 hours of manpower will be devoted to the work.
“(Committee members and I) plan to monitor this daily to see where we’re going,” Waghorn said.
When pressed by commissioners, Waghorn said he also would be open to halting the process if preliminary results do not prove fruitful.
“If we don’t think it’s going to work … we will stop,” he said.
Commissioner Paul Kling expressed reservation about the timing of the weed cutting, given that it’s late in the season.
“It’s going to look good in six weeks because we’re at the end of the growing season,” Kling said. “Are we going to get the full bang for our buck?”
Waghorn acknowledged that May or June would potentially be better. However, he said he believed fruitful results – either for or against weed cutting in the future – could come of the current pilot project.
“I don’t have an ideal answer,” Waghorn said. “But we’ll have some criteria around these results.”
Data gleaned from the weed cutting experiment also will play a role in next year’s budget process. WWMD commissioners plan to use the findings as a gauge in determining how much money should be allocated toward ridding local waterways of plants and weeds.
“This is a very intricate part of the budget,” commissioner Barbara Baron said.
On a grander scale, committee members also are seeking out a grant to help fund control of aquatic invasive species.
“This grant is not for the maintenance type of treatment we do today, but is for a multi-faceted approach, including education and prevention,” Waghorn said.
If awarded, WWMD stands to receive the grant over a three-year period of time. Up to 50 percent of applicable expenses could be covered through the funding from an outside source.
“There are a lot of things we’ll have to do to get this grant,” Waghorn said. “It’s going to take quite a bit of time.”
To apply for the grant, WWMD will need to have an updated lake management plan – an effort that is under way – and a formal resolution will need to be passed by commissioners.
If both steps move forward, the grant application would be due to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in February.
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