Chautauqua Lake SAVMP / Chemical Weed Control Meeting April 18th

[mostlymuskies]

Important Chautauqua Lake SAVMP / Chemical Weed Control Meeting April 18th

Area residents are encouraged to attend an update and public participation meeting on the Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Management Plan (SAVMP) for Chautauqua Lake, to be held from 6:00 – 8:00pm, Thursday April 18th, at the Chautauqua Institution Golf Course Club House.

The SAVMP is being developed to expand upon the techniques to manage the nuisance aquatic vegetation that impairs recreational, environmental, and economic resources in Chautauqua Lake. Once completed, the Plan will consider the location and type of man's uses, areas of excessive weed growth, and where the conflicts between man's uses and the weeds occur. It will then identify sensitive areas and will prescribe reasonable and practical management alternatives that are practical and implementable for the control of aquatic vegetation.

Please contact Jeff Diers, Chautauqua County Watershed Coordinator, if you have any questions regarding ongoing projects in Chautauqua Lake and throughout the County at [email protected].

Best regards,

Jeff Diers
Watershed Coordinator

Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Poses Threat In 2013
April 2, 2013
By Remington Whitcomb ([email protected]), The Post-Journal
Save | Comments (2) | Post a comment
Just like electricity, invasive species follow the path of least resistance.
To ensure the lake stays healthy, the Chautauqua County Department of Planning and Economic Development is asking for the public's help in stopping the movement of invasive species.
To help the public learn how it can help, a public participation meeting on the Submerged Aquatic Vegetation Management Plan for Chautauqua Lake has been scheduled for April 18 from 6-8 p.m. at the Chautauqua Institution Golf Course Club House. All area residents are encouraged to attend.
"The management of Chautauqua Lake proved to be challenging in 2012 due to low water levels and excess nutrients that led to extensive aquatic plant growth and algal blooms," said Jeff Diers, Chautauqua County watershed coordinator. "Both of (these circumstances) had significantly impacted lake recreational activities.
"The summer of 2012 also held new challenges," continued Diers," as water chestnut a highly invasive aquatic plant, was identified in Chautauqua Lake, further complicating management efforts. Water chestnut was identified near both the Bemus Creek area, and the mouth of the Chadakoin River of Chautauqua Lake."
Diers stated that invasive aquatic plants such as curly leaf pondweed and Eurasian watermilfoil have been present at nuisance levels in Chautauqua Lake for decades as well.
However, an invasive species of much greater concern, Hydrilla verticullata, was discovered in North Tonawanda Creek, which is less than 80 miles from Chautauqua County. Hydrilla verticullata is considered to be the most noxious invasive aquatic plant in the United States.
The SAVMP will expand upon the techniques to manage the nuisance aquatic vegetation that impairs recreational, environmental and economic resources in Chautauqua Lake.
Once completed, the plan will consider the location and type of the community's uses, areas of excessive weed growth and where the conflicts between the community's uses and the weeds occur. It will then identify sensitive areas and will prescribe reasonable and practical management alternatives that are implementable for the control of aquatic vegetation.
Don McCord, Department of Planning and Economic Development senior planner said that an emergency action plan to prevent invasive species becoming established in the lake is being developed in tandem with the comprehensive and integrated SAVMP.
The plan is currently under development by the CCPED, the Chautauqua Lake Management Commission, Cedar Eden Environmental LLC, EcoLogic LLC, and Pashek Associates.
For more information, contact Diers at [email protected]

We will be present voicing our disproval of the use of Chemical Weed Control and ask for Selective Cutting & Checker Board Cutting of key weedbed areas.

 

[mostlymuskies]

Tom & I listened to the Chautauqua Lake Management Commission, Cedar Eden Environmental LLC, EcoLogic LLC, and Pashek Associates presentation on how they want to control the invasive weeds growing in Chautauqua Lake.They had seperate Chautauqua Lake Maps marking (1)High Boat Traffic Area's (2) Weed Growth Area's (3) Fish Habitat / Spawning Area's (4) Weed Density Area's (5) Projected Weed Control Area's.
They were talking about both Harvester Cutting Method and Chemical Treatment Method.Harvester Cutting Method has to be recut every 3 weeks.Chemical Treatment areas would last two years. They contradicted their statement here,when asked by Tom Marks if there was a possability of the chemicals spreading through the water colum to other parts of the lake,they said that they use a new pellet form that drops in near the weeds roots,and disipates with in 48 hours.Then later another person asked if the weeds would grow back the next year,it was said that the Chemical's would work for Two years and no weeds would grow back in that time frame.So I asked the question what is it? The Chemicals are active for 48 Hours or 730 Days? The question was skirted!Then it was brought up that when Harvester Cutting takes place that the Harvester does not pick up all the cut weeds and they end up all over the lake due to winds pushing water.Not only do home owners have to clean up all these weeds,the invasive weeds get spread to other parts of the lake,sink to the bottom and grow new weedbeds.Tom Marks asked this question,After Chemical Treatment do you remove the rotting weeds?No was the answer,they mat down and decay into the bottom.It was then brought up that those same Chemical Treated Dead Weeds can be pushed around the lake by high winds to other important weedbeds,fish habitat / spawning areas and kill those weedbeds as well.Agian they skirted our question and went on to ask other questions.One person brought up that the main source for phosphates making their way into the lake are from sewer plants and cottage sewer leach tanks,only about 10% is from fertilizer run off and farmers manure runoff through creeks was not even mentioned.I made then aware of the presence of Blood Worms on the bottom from 24ft to 30ft depths infront of Chautauqua Institute Sewer Plant,could only come from raw sewerage entering the lake.
I think the only fishermen there were Myself,Tom Marks & Chuck Bataglia,but we did raise questions that would have never been asked if we were not there.We will work closely with other agency's to be even more prepared for Meeting #3 coming up.We are working on trying to find out what Chemical out of 4 the NSDEC will allow,they are planning to try to use.Then we can come back with all the negatives associated with that Chemical or possibly ask for a Controled Test Area where a small area can be treated and monitored over time to see the enviromental impact,before they possibly kill the whole lake as was done at Lake Arthur in Pa.(No Weeds Anymore--No Young of Year Fish Anymore)!

Edited April 20, 2013 by mostlymuskies

[mostlymuskies]

When Chautauqua SAV Meeting #3 comes up we are going to need FISHERMEN to show up in numbers! If the rich home owners have control over the whole floor debate we will loose and we will loose the Chautauqua Lake Fishery as we know it today! I will post here as soon as they announce the next meeting.

[mostlymuskies]

Will Chautauqua End Up Like Lake Arthur?

Decline in Lake Arthur muskellunge fishing has anglers, state trolling for answers
Sunday, October 09, 2011
By John Hayes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
Fisheries biologist aide Matt Gordon holds a 50-inch muskie during a 2011 survey of Lake Arthur.
PORTERSVILLE -- The waters of Lake Arthur were calm Monday evening. But in a meeting room at Mount Zion Baptist Church, on the shoreline of Shannon Run Bay, a maelstrom of controversy swirled as anglers, the state Fish and Boat Commission and Moraine State Park management clashed over what's happening beneath the surface.

The 3,225-acre Lake Arthur impoundment has long been considered one of Pennsylvania's premiere muskie lakes, stocked yearly by the state with 3,300 young muskies averaging 6 inches. Survival rates are low, but good forage, a stable weed mass for cover and catch-and-release practices resulted in higher than normal catch rates for what has been called the "fish of 10,000 casts."

But in recent years, anglers have noticed a decline in catches. In a routine survey this summer, Fish and Boat biologists found lots of muskies at Lake Arthur, particularly big ones, but were startled to log a total absence of entire year classes of muskies, those from 26 to 32 inches.

No doubt something is changing at Lake Arthur. The mystery grows as anglers and the agencies that maintain the lake spar over what's to blame for the missing muskies.

At last week's meeting, members of the Moraine Muskie Association presented enterprising informal research they believe shows the impacts of aquatic herbicides used to control weed growth at the lake. Tim Wilson, the Fish and Boat biologist who manages the Lake Arthur fishery, shared research that confirmed some of the anglers' concerns but challenged their conclusions. Following the meeting, park manager Dan Bickel defended the use of herbicides to control the plants, and inferred possible linkage to Moraine's ongoing problems with municipal sewage processed by the park.

Herbicides
"We've noticed a sharp decline in muskie numbers in Lake Arthur. Probably four years ago it started," said Fombell muskie guide and Moraine Muskie member Howard Wagner. "We wanted to see the effects of herbicide use on places we knew had good weed beds, so we went from bay to bay. Portersville Bay, Bear Run, Osprey, under the Route 528 bridge, the five fingers including Muddy Creek Bay -- wherever we went, we found no weeds or poor weed growth."

The group's main concern is the park's use of two aquatic herbicides (trade names Reward and Navigate) to clear the water for boaters. Group members presented photos of de-weeded areas and charts comparing muskie stocking rates and harvest reports. Some feared muskies were directly poisoned by herbicides; others were convinced the weed-control policy destroys habitat for forage fish.

Since Moraine State Park opened in 1971, the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has used Reward and Navigate to clear weeds from the swimming beach, 10 boat launches, marinas and other areas.

"We have to manage for multiple uses -- fishing, swimming, pontoon boats, sail boats, canoes and kayaks, hydrofoils," said Bickel. "We had a lot of complaints from the marina this year from people having trouble getting out of their slip spaces due to aquatic weed growth. . . . When we use it, we use the minimum amount of herbicide that we possibly can."

Since 1971, DCNR has treated as many as 43 acres of Lake Arthur per year, at 1 gallon per acre, depending upon need. In 2004, a year with a high muskie population, no herbicides were used. But in another peak year, 2007, 39 acres were treated. In 2010, DCNR used herbicides on about 12 acres. This year control agents were used on nearly 23 acres of the lake.

The herbicides used at Lake Arthur are common. Neither directly kills the plants -- they cling to plant surfaces and disrupt growth. Both are approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and used by some 40 states, other governmental bodies and private landowners. Both are used by DCNR throughout Pennsylvania. Fish and Boat does not use the herbicides in the wild, but employs far higher doses at its hatcheries.

Sewage
Like many parks in Pennsylvania's state park system, Moraine's sewage processing system takes in pre-processed sewage from a nearby municipality. At Moraine, outflow from Prospect Borough is processed in the park's system and released below the dam into Muddy Creek.

Bickel said cement-encased sewage pipes cross the lake bottom at two places before entering the park's processing system, which is inspected monthly by park staff. But long-standing problems with the municipality's incoming sewage remain unresolved.

"Faulty equipment in Prospect's system before it comes to us -- yes, that's an ongoing problem," said Bickel.

Prospect Borough sewage officials did not immediately return calls from the Post-Gazette.

It's unclear, however, how potential sewage releases might relate to Lake Arthur's muskie problem. PFBC biologist Wilson said if biological matter was leaching into the lake, it would be a problem for all fish, yet only the muskies are experiencing sharp losses of entire year classes. Biological waste would likely decrease water clarity, he said, which would in turn impact aquatic vegetation.

Habitat
For many years, Lake Arthur's forage fish, game fish and angling success rates were directly linked to the aquatic plant milfoil. An invasive species that choked out native growth, milfoil nevertheless provided perfect cover for little fish. Big fish lurked under and at the edges of weed beds waiting for a snack, giving anglers an easy casting or trolling target.

Since about 2007, when muskie catch rates began to decline, a new invasive plant species has quickly spread through Lake Arthur. Hydrilla, sometimes called Esthwaite waterweed, entwines in thick beds on the bottom, crowding out the less dense milfoil.

"It's too thick. The little fish can't use it to hide, and the big fish don't use it as a point of ambush," said Wilson. "Like other game fish, muskies are cannibalistic. Baby muskies need weeds to survive and without the good milfoil, they're more susceptible to predation from big muskies."

In fact, Wilson said the 2004 and 2007 spikes in muskie population that anglers sorely miss could be responsible for the current absence of later year classes. He cited a Wisconsin study showing that in lakes with unusually large numbers of big muskies, little muskies were eaten at such levels as to cause the collapse of the entire muskie population.

Wilson theorizes that the loss of some weed beds to herbicide is small potatoes compared to the sea change that rocked Lake Arthur with the arrival of hydrilla and subsequent demise of milfoil. The resulting muskie cannibalism, he speculated, may have caused the population changes experienced by anglers and detected in PFBC surveys.

Wilson said he will recommend doubling the number of young muskies planted in the next state stocking, but it may take a while to get the muskies back on track.

"Even with the hole in the population, it's still a pretty good muskie fishery now," he said. "The population is about the same as it was before those two really good years. The guys who adapt to the new conditions and change their gear and tactics will eventually come upon a formula that works."



 

 

 

 

 

[mostlymuskies]

Chautauqua Lake Submerged Aquatic Vegitation Plan will be discussed tonight at the Chautauqua County Federation of Sportsman's Club's Meeting at the Ellery Rod & Gun Club in Bemus Point,NY at 7:00 pm

[mostlymuskies]

Myself,Chuck Bataglia & Chip Spiesman are the Chautauqua County Federation of Sportsmans Clubs delegates to stay on top of the Chautauqua Lake SAVMP / Chemical Weed Control Plan.We will start by looking at what Chemical they want to use if they are given a permit to do so.We will look at the permit process and find out if there should be a eviromental impack study on a very small area of weeds

over a period of time.We will keep pushing for selective cutting,with no chemicals used.