The Chautauqua Lake Association (CLA) says it has filed objections to a permit applications that would allow for the application of two powerful herbicides to 1,200 acres of Chautauqua Lake this coming summer.

The CLA is the organization that helps manage weeds on the lake by operating a number of harvesters to remove weeds throughout the summer season.

The herbicide application has been filed with the State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) by local municipalities on behalf of the Chautauqua Lake Partnership (CLP) – which also pushed for the use of herbicides in 2018 in an effort to combat nuisance weeds and vegitation in the lower basin of the lake. The towns of Busti, Ellery, Ellicott, and North Harmony and the villages of Celoron and Lakewood have signed onto the application.

The 10 objections (printed below) from the CLA range from failure to notify all effected shoreline property owners, to the lack of scientific understanding of lake currents that could spread the chemical herbicides well beyond the areas being targeted for herbicide use. Because the permit calls for the use of both the chemicals Aquathol K and Navigate, the CLA also argues the effective coverage area is actually 2,400 acres under the current permitting request.

“The CLA sent this letter to the DEC because it views the lake as a whole, and these flawed applications would introduce, with inadequate safeguards, potent chemicals throughout the lake,” said CLA Executive Director Douglas Conroe. “This is improper and DEC officials know that. The CLA does not oppose effective and selective herbicide application, but this helter-skelter approach could cause enormous environmental damage.”

• RELATED: WRFA Discusses Lake Management with CLA’s Doug Conroe (January 2019)

The action by the CLA comes less than a week after Borrello delivered his state of the county address and included a call for collaboration and consensus when it comes to the different stakeholders involved with managing Chautauqua Lake. Borrello said it was time for a “cease fire” between some of the groups and also said he would ask them all to sign a memo of understanding in regards to lake management and that any group that wouldn’t sign the memo could miss out on funding that earmarked for addressing lake issues.

There’s no word on when the State DEC will act on the herbicide application request, but it will likely come before June.

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The 10 objections cited by the CLA to the DEC are:

1. Inappropriate herbicide use endangers fish, animals, birds, insects and plants. In February, 10 entities, including the CLA, confirmed their continuing consensus regarding the management of Chautauqua Lake, including plant management. Their Conservation Statement for Chautauqua Lake specifically addressed using herbicides by stating: “Herbicide use can be suitable when it fits within an invasive-species management plan, and when other methods of nuisance plant control are not workable.”

The statement further notes that short-term solutions must not endanger fish, birds, amphibians, animals and insects that rely on the lake, nor should they pose a risk to human use of the lake. The permit applications, as submitted, conflict with the conservation statement’s consensus that the long-term, deeply experienced lake-related entities formed.

The applications also do not fit within any invasive species or lake management plan ever written. And, the applications fail within the DEC’s own Division of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources Bureau of Habitat Technical Memorandum of March 17, 2016, titled Recommendations Regarding the Use of Aquatic Herbicide In Fish-Bearing Waters of the State, guidance specifically regarding the utilization of herbicides in invasive species colonized lakes.

Further, it has been clearly demonstrated that when fully implemented aquatic plant harvesting can work to control nuisance plant growth in Chautauqua Lake – without resorting to herbicides. Given the CLA’s existing fleet of harvesters, an alternative method to herbicide treatment is available.

2. Affected property owners were not appropriately notified. The notifications mailing list is incomplete, in that not all lakefront property owners situated within the herbicide quarantine area were sent a notification in advance of the 2018 herbicide use, nor were notifications sent to other lake-use-rights property owners who are not immediate lakefront owners. The notification process for this year is thus flawed again and needs to be corrected by the applicants.

3. Failure to comply with county plans. Again this year, the proposed treatments fail to comply with the Chautauqua County 2017 Macrophyte Management Strategy guidance document in regard to (a) treatment locations; (b) treatment timing; (c) use of specifically not-recommended 2,4-D. Although some variance from the guidance document is tolerable, the variances are so egregious that issuance of the permits as requested is inappropriate.

4. Permit application defies DEC regulations. Regarding the utilization of 2,4-D, the DEC’s regulations limit such aquatic use to emergent plants, yet the 2019 herbicide-use permit applications propose use on submerged vegetation. Taking this into consideration, along with the county’s Macrophyte Management Strategy recommendations, the issuance of permits to utilize Navigate in Chautauqua Lake should be denied.

5. Proper testing was not performed in 2018. DEC policy requires use of Environmental Laboratory Approval Program-certified labs for analyzing water samples. ELAP was not followed last year and the 2019 applications do not state that ELAP will be utilized, and therefore the applications should be deemed incomplete. Region 9 must follow departmental rules. The necessary impact conclusions and quarantine-lifting decisions that are part of herbicide application cannot legitimately be made per department policy when non-certified labs are utilized.

6. “Need” for herbicide use based on flawed surveys. The applicants’ treatment-area decisions were apparently made based upon “rake-toss surveys” of the lake. Ample input was provided in 2018 as to the inappropriateness of the applicants’ rake-toss method and the flaws associated with it. Only the commonly accepted Cornell University Modified Army Corps Rake Toss Method data should be allowed for herbicide-based decision making. The applications should thus be deemed incomplete and the applicants should be required to submit other rationale as to how treatment areas were/are determined.

7. Conflict of interest on who applies the herbicide. Having an applicator that profits from the sale of the herbicides decide what quantity of chemicals are to be applied is a clear conflict of interest. This applicator, who profits from supplying and applying the chemicals, also determines quality-control parameters, then profits from the quality-control implementation. The applicator also profits from a favorable quality-assurance outcome, which it alone determines. These are all untenable factors and constitute conflict of interest. Permit conditions need to require that an independent third-party entity be retained by the applicants to perform QA/QC.

8. Bottom cover should be determined by third-party divers, not guesswork. The applications vary from standard policy without justification. We request that any permits continue to follow standard, proven-to-be-appropriate policy: Treatment only to occur within 200 feet from shore or out to 6 feet deep, whichever comes first, unless performed in a specific navigation channel; notification of all lake property owners and at all launch ramps along with required extensive public media announcements; and, treatment to only occur where 50 percent of bottom cover of target species exists. In this case, due to last year’s shortcomings, this should mean cover would be determined by third-party underwater divers or certified rake toss, as opposed to sight guessing that occurred in 2018.

9. Coverage area could reach 2,400 acres, without third-party, scientific evaluation of need or efficacy. Specific impact of the simultaneous introduction of Aquathol K and Navigate upon the ecology in Chautauqua Lake needs to be evaluated through a bona fide study, before introduction of the chemicals on the proposed scale occurs. The proposal to cover 1,200+ acres with both products equates to 2,400+ herbicide acres of treatment. Chautauqua Lake enjoys a diverse ecology, including 24 plant species. These benefit water clarity and absorb nutrients in support of the U.S. Clean Water Act’s Total Maximum Daily Load goals, while they also likely mitigate harmful algal blooms. The plants support a world-renown fishery, which the DEC lists as the No. 1 New York State Inland Fishing Lake and No. 4 overall Fishing Waterbody statewide. Therefore, care must be taken to safeguard these crucial assets. Further dual herbicide treatment must not be permitted until local impacts are better known.

10. Lake current patterns – which could disperse the chemicals over a much wider area – are unknown. Chautauqua Lake has no immediate water-flow pattern data. Given the observed 2018 drift impact, specific chemical drift studies need to be undertaken throughout Chautauqua Lake before any permit for herbicide treatment is issued. After a 2018 herbicide application, the applicants’ own test results documented the presence of *triclopyr miles downstream in the Conewango River in the Town of Carroll

• MOBILE APP USERS: LISTEN HERE

Originally airing Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019

WRFA public affairs director Jason Sample talks with Doug Conroe, executive director of the Chautauqua Lake Association, about the organization and its mission along with what his thoughts on what can be done to address the weed problem on the lake.

The Village Casino in Bemus Point, on Chautauqua Lake, will be the location of a Chautauqua Lake Rally on Aug. 23, 2014. (Photo from Chautauqua County Government website)

BEMUS POINT  Residents wanting to get an update on the health and status of Chautauqua Lake will want to be in Bemus Point tomorrow morning.

The Chautauqua Lake and Watershed Management Alliance will be holding a Chautauqua Lake Rally Saturday, Aug. 23 from 9 a.m. to noon at the Village Casino in Bemus Point.

According to county economic and planning officials, the event will include opening remarks from the County Executive Vince Horrigan and other local government leaders, exhibits and displays from numerous lake-based organizations, and presentations about the positive initiatives currently underway to address the health of Chautauqua Lake.

Presentations include:

• 10 a.m.– Mark Geise, Deputy Director of Chautauqua County Department of Planning and Economic Development; Randy Sweeney, Executive Director of the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation; and Linda Barber, President of the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy Board of Directors, will discuss the formation of the new Chautauqua Lake and Watershed Management Alliance.
• 10:30 a.m. – Doug Conroe, President of Chautauqua Lake Association, will speak about the causes and impacts of algae on lake ecosystems.
• 11 a.m. – Michael Manning and Janelle Chagnon from O’Brien & Gere Engineering will discuss their work in preparing the Integrated Sewer Management Study.
• 11:30 a.m. – Geise and Chautauqua County Watershed Coordinator Dave McCoy will speak about the status of the Marcophyte Management Strategy currently being developed.

Representatives from the Chautauqua Lake Partnership, Chautauqua Lake Association, Chautauqua Lake and Watershed Management Alliance, Chautauqua Lake Management Commission, Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy and others will also be available to answer any questions the public may have about the Lake.

The Chautauqua Lake Rally is co-sponsored by the Chautauqua Lake Partnership, Chautauqua County Visitors Bureau, Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, and the Chautauqua County Department of Planning and Economic Development. The rally is free and open to the public and a light breakfast will also be provided for attendees.

For more information regarding this event, please contact Chautauqua County Watershed Coordinator Dave McCoy at (716) 661-8915.

Among those taking part  in the discussion was Chautauqua Lake Association president Doug Conroe. Who emphasized that every resident in the county should be concerned with the well-being of the lake, not just those who live on it or use it for recreational purposes.

“A clean lake is everyone’s business,” Conroe stated. “Over 60 years ago when civic leaders and industrialists got together to create the Chautauqua Lake Association, the put that statement on their letterhead, and that statement is just as important today as it was back then. It’s critical. Everyone’s lake and everyone’s business and so we put together a coalition of everyone to make that happen as economically and as efficiently as possible.”

Conroe, along with several others, talked about what the various maintenance tactics they employ to help fight the weed and algae situation on the lake, as well various educational outreach programs that are underway.

The group also talked about how various agencies are working together to develop a unified approach to dealing with lake issues for future years, with much of the effort guided by the recently completed Chautauqua Lake Watershed Management Plan, spearheaded by the Chautauqua Lake Management Commission.

Other agencies in attendance included the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy, the Chautauqua County Water & Soil District and the Chautauqua Lake Inter Municipal Committee.

WRFA will provide the entire audio of the critical discussion on our blog site.  In addition, the discussion will also be featured during our Community Matters public affairs program later in May.

Algae bloom, captured in this aerial photo by John McCredie, may be one of the issues tackled by a panel of local experts during a discussion about Chautauqua Lake at 7 p.m. Monday, April 29, at Prendergast Library.

JAMESTOWN – The James Prendergast Library will offer the fifth program in its Critical Discussion Series from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday, April 29, in the Fireplace Room at the library on the topic “Chautauqua Lake Action: Who is Doing What in 2013?

During the final Critical Discussion until fall, John Jablonski III, executive director of the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy, will address root causes of lake problems, preventive activities, and landowner relationships.

Other panelists include: Doug Conroe, president of the Chautauqua Lake Association; Dave Spann, district field manager of the Chautauqua County Soil & Water Conservation District; Sally Carlson, North Harmony town supervisor and the representative of mayors and supervisors on the Chautauqua Lake Management Commission; and Lyle Hajdu, chairman of the Chautauqua Lake Management Commission.

Panelists will also take questions from the audience. The program is free and open to the public. The library is located at 509 Cherry St., Jamestown. For information, call 484-7135, Ext. 225.