Wendel said most would agree that the 2019 M-O-A was a success with a number of initiatives achieved,

“A combined effort to improve near-shore cleanup utilizing Mobitracs, Barges, and Harvesters; an increased ability to move more quickly respond to the stakeholders’ needs; the use of a new herbicide, ProcellaCOR, product to control Eurasian Watermilfoil; the use of satellite-based Geographic Information System technology to track the movement of equipment and the location of herbicide applications on the Lake.”

Wendel said other initiatives reached included more comprehensive weed surveys and increased transparency in sharing of data and operations. He said while the 2019 M-O-A did not fully resolve all stakeholder disagreements regarding funding and lake management activities, stakeholders communicated much better and more often than in the past.

The county retained the services of W-S-P, formerly Ecology & Environment, located in Lancaster, to interview Lake stakeholders regarding a successor agreement. Wendel said the result of those interviews led the county to develop a Memorandum of Understanding as a non-binding agreement with the intent that all participants would work collaboratively and in good faith,

“The 2021 MOU is a Chautauqua County agreement that encompasses the Chautauqua Lake municipalities and its Not-for-Profits. It is known that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, or the DEC, has full and objective regulatory authority over Chautauqua Lake. The issues that the Chautauqua Lake stakeholders and regulators are challenged with are much broader than just weed management.”

Wendel laid out other key elements of the M-O-U including that it’s not a prerequisite or rubric to qualify for local funding and that stakeholders should have the trust to collaborate with others without the threat of litigation.

Wendel said he felt motivated to do this because Chautauqua Lake is an economic engine,

“But, as we’ve heard before, and pardon the pun, our ships must travel in the same direction. We don’t have to agree with everything that everybody does, but we do have to work together. We cannot cross paths, we cannot criticize, we need to work together in a very fundamental way and for the betterment of this Lake.”

The M-O-U will be sent out today to municipalities and organizations to review.

The DEC cited lack of Eurasian milfoil or requested areas being in critical fish habitats for why herbicide use was denied for portions of the permits for Busti, Ellery and Ellicott.

Under the permit guidelines, spraying for curly leaf pond weed is permitted to happen between May 10th and 21st. Eurasian milfoil treatment will be allowed to start June 7th through 18th.

The NYS DEC permit letters to municipalities can be reviewed here:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iqewkyJZxpZRA6mYKYtqMATeyL9eR6Iv?usp=sharing

Eurasian Milfoil (left) and Curly Leaf Pondweed

MAYVILLE – A consulting firm from Lancaster, NY has provided Chautauqua County with a white paper report that focuses on lake weed management and the available herbicides that could be used to help manage aquatic plants and weeds in Chautauqua Lake.

The report from Ecology and Environment, Inc. is entitled, “Summary of Methods for Control of Aquatic Invasive and Nuisance Plants with Special Emphasis on Eurasian Watermilfoil and Curly-leaf Pondweed.” A copy of the full report can be found at the county website.

The firm prepared the white paper through in-depth research and examination of peer-reviewed papers, environmental impact statements, text books, herbicide product labels obtained from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and management guides and guidelines.

The white paper examines various biological, chemical, and physical aquatic plant management techniques to help control the amount of Eurasian watermilfoil and curly-leaf pond weed (the two most problematic plant species) found in the Lake. It also identifies the advantages, disadvantages, and environmental impacts associated with each technique from a third party perspective.

To control these aquatic invasive plant species, the report recommends to:

• Regularly monitor plant communities,
• Utilize the most effective combinations of available biological, chemical, and physical management techniques and tools available,
• Rotate herbicides used at a given site in order to prevent herbicide resistance in targeted plants.

“We were pleased to have this independent, third party firm evaluate various approaches to address the weeds in Chautauqua Lake,” said Mark Geise, Deputy County Executive for Economic Development. “It is important that we have an approach to periodically evaluate our decisions and goals for Chautauqua Lake, and E&E’s white paper will help us establish best management practices for our Comprehensive Lake Management Strategy.”

The Statement was drafted by the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy with input from other lake stakeholders and outlines a general understanding of what the goals for the lake should be, as well as both the long-term and short-term solutions should be in order to achieve those goals.

CWC executive director John Jablonski tells WRFA that the statement reinforces the notion that most lake groups have worked together in the past and will continue to work together moving forward.

“Most groups have been working very well together for the past 20 years and have had a lot of consensus building that’s going on through the development of the existing programs that are underway around the lake,” Jablonski says. “Another major point was to make sure that some of the misinformation is clarified out there.”

Jablonski adds the misinformation includes the approach to dealing with invasive plant species, which, despite their name, are actually aquatic plants that have been around long enough to become part of the overall lake ecosystem.

“The two main exotic plants in Chautauqua Lake that can be a problem – Eurasian water milfoil and curly leaf pond weed – they’ve been around here for 50 to 80 years already. They spread in mid 1900s. They are throughout the whole lake. They’re naturalized and are part of the system. That shipped sailed a long time ago so there’s really not a concern about them spreading today because they spread already. They grow where the conditions are suitable for them to grow so it’s a matter of trying to address those conditions that promote the growth of those plants.”

For long-term strategies, the document says the lake must be surrounded with healthy, natural landscapes that filter nutrients and pollutants from the water that flows to the lake. This means permanently protecting streams, woodlands and wetlands, planting buffers along shorelines and streambanks, and reforesting portions of the watershed. It adds that new development in the watershed must be offset by restoration of wetlands and forests. The long-term health of the lake also requires improvements in septic, sewer and storm-water management practices. Selective dredging of the lake to reduce the amount of sediment that provides internal nutrient loading also has been suggested as a potential long-term action.

For more short-term management, the document suggests continuing the process of plant harvesting to reduce nuisance lake vegetation that makes lake navigation and recreation difficult. The harvesting also helps to removes organic matter from the lake that can feed future algae blooms. In addition, it suggests the continued effort of stream bank stabilization, which helps to prevent sediment build-up and nutrient runoff into the lake.

The statement also addresses herbicide using, saying it is not entirely opposed to using chemicals to combat weed growth, but states that it should be on a limited basis and only in isolated areas, not large sections of the lake in order to prevent any adverse effects on the environment and wildlife.

“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 reads. “It is crucial that any short-term solutions used to address excessive plant and algae growth within the lake are not short sighted; they must be well thought out and performed in conjunction with long-term goals. They cannot endanger the fish, birds, amphibians, animals and insects that rely on the lake and must not pose a risk to human use of the lake’s waters.”

The statement comes as Chautauqua County government officials work to establish a consensus on the best course of action needed in order to tackle the weed issues in the lake, which during the summer months have created problems for visitors and boaters, especially in the southern basin of the lake. In addition, a large deposit of aquatic vegetation gathered in an area of Burtis Bay near Celoron this past fall, leading to a large volume of fish dying in that area due to suffocation.

Besides the CWC, other organizations that have signed onto the Lake Statement include the Chautauqua Lake Association, the Chautauqua Fishing Alliance, Chautauqua Institution, Roger Tory Peterson Institute, and the Conewango Creeek Watershed Association – along with others, although the Chautauqua Lake Partnership – the organization primarily involved with expanding herbicide use in the lake, has not given its endorsement.

More details about the statement can be heard this week when we broadcast our interview with Jablonski, who is joined by CWC director emeritus Becky Nystrom. on our Community Matters program (Thursdays at 5 p.m., Fridays at 2 p.m., and Sundays at noon).

Weeds can build up on Chautauqua Lake and create problems for boaters, such is the case shown in this image taken in 2011 of an unidentified area of the lake.

BEMUS POINT – A small portion of Chautauqua Lake will be treated with chemical herbicide starting today in an effort to fight an overabundance of weeds.

The Post-Journal is reporting the treatment will take place in areas of Bemus Bay after the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation gave its recent approval. The three zones that will be treated are located near the top of Lakeside Drive and the other closer to the village. A total of six zones had been requested by the Chautauqua Lake Partnership (CLP) in the initial application.

Earlier this year, a group of property owners engaged the Town of Ellery and Village of Bemus Point to submit a permit application to the DEC for a permit to use the herbicides Aquathol K (Endothall) and Navigate (2-4 D) on the submerged aquatic vegetation in Bemus Bay.

While CLP assisted with the application and supports the use of herbicide, other Chautauqua Lake-based organization are against it.

“Chautauqua Lake Association leadership has taken into account the many aspects of its experience and has reviewed the current environmental condition of the lake, especially Bemus Bay. As a result, the CLA leadership is not recommending a herbicide approach to managing submerged aquatic vegetation in Chautauqua Lake at this time,” the CLA stated on its website in a posting from April 2017.

And the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy also stated on its website, “[The Conservancy] has empathy for the property owners whose use and enjoyment of the lake has been disrupted by dense patches of vegetation.. however, the CWC also has concerns about the permit application/use of herbicides in the lake – namely, that the application does not include an environmental impact statement, that the application does not demonstrate that the treatment will achieve the applicants’ intended outcome and that the application does not demonstrate the necessity to use herbicides in 2017 based upon plant cover (density) and percentage of non-native invasive species.”

The herbicide will be used to battle invasive weeds, such as Eurasian Milfoil.

The DEC has limited herbicide application to 200 feet from the shoreline and treated zones would reportedly be safe again for human use 24 hours after treatment.