Weeds/Harvester Update

Dear Friends of the Lake,

2012 is a year we all would like to forget with regards to floating weeds and algae blooms.

Immediate Problem

There are currently large "floatillas" of weeds on many parts of all three lakes, but especially Lake 3. The floating weeds are so thick that they:

    1.Restrict many docked boats from navigating to deeper water

    2.Pose a threat to further aggrevate the severe algae situation. If the weather stays warm and the weeds decay over the next two weeks, they will release phosphorus into the water.(confirmed with Doug Thomas of the local Watershed District).

Action Plan

To address the floating weeds the Board of Directors has approved the following  plan:

1.Request that the city keep the harvester in the lake for another two weeks. The city has agreed. Normally, the harvester is removed in early August.

2.Pay up to two volunteers to work as often and as long as possible to clear as many of the floating weeds during the short harvester time remaining.

3. This will cost the association $1500-$2500 in unforecasted expenses.  This cost would be more than covered if  the 103 members who have not paid their $40 dues would do so. We will be electronically invoicing these delinquent members, so please make every effort to send in your dues. If we cannot recover these unpaid dues, we will go into 2013 in a much weaked financial position.

Patience Please!

The high priority floating weed areas have been identified by a lake survey. These priority areas will drive the harvesting plan.We cannot remove all the floating weeds from all 900+ lakeshore properties...so please do not call to request custom treatment.

What Happened?

The factors driving our "bad" weed year are as follows:unseasonably early/hot spring,unseasonably hot July,low water levels, a high population of shallow root weed species and wind.

CLP Successfully Treated

We started the year with  treatment of 155 acres of the invasive weed species Curly Leaf Pondweed on May 9th. Two weeks later,  Steve McComas, a lake consultant , conducted a  survey of the treated areas and confirmed the successful control of CLP in the treated areas. By restricting the aggressive growth of CLP on those 155 acres we eliminated the early July die off this large mass of weeds which normally would have released an estimated 500 lbs of phosphorus into the lake.

Floating Weed Problem

A major problem appeared in August: tons of floating weeds...everywhere. A number of factors contributed to this situation:

1.  Early and continued unseasonably hot weather allowed prolific growth of all types of weeds.

2.   Forest Lake has a good popualtion of shallow rooted weed species Wild Celery,Coontail and Canada Waterweed( elodea). These weeds are easily dislodged by wind and boat traffic, especially in low water conditions. Floating Wild Celery has been especially prevelant this year.Wild Celery has grass like leaves with curly , string like strands that stick out above the water and easily entangle in boat props.

3.  In addition, Steve McComas , the Watershed District consultant, feels that the early hot spring has caused these weeds to start to die and release earlier than their normal life cycle.He has especially seen this early release phenomena with Wild Celery in other lakes.

Algae Blooms

Early and sustained hot weather, more than normal dying weeds ( during hot weather), and two  3+ inch rains have contributed to severe algae blooms for most of the summer. We feel the #1 culprit here is stormwater runnoff, especially during high downpours, because the water flushes organic residues/debris (phophorus) into the lake and directly feeds algae blooms. We continue to work with the city to accelerate meaningful stormwater remediation programs.

Harvester

The demand for the harvester has been so great that we had to recruit and train additional volunteers to cover specific bays and shorelines where severe vegetation congestion occured. Blake Dalbec , our Board member in charge of the harvesting program, has put in countless hours in both training and personaly running the harvester. Blake deserves our gratitude and a special thanks!

A complete report on harvester volunteer hours and tons of weeds removed will be sent out after the harvesting season is over.

Conclusion

This has been a very unusual and difficult year.Everyone has been impacted by the weed situation. The harvesting policy of the Association, defined in part by the DNR liscensing protocol, restricts our harvesting efforts to  maintaining navigable waters only. this includes  lake channels, entrances to bays,public launch access to deeper water,etc. You cannot harvest native weed species except in the above situations.

Weeds within 150 ft of shore are technically speaking the resposibility of property owners. The floating weeds have been so bad this year that navigation in many parts of the lake has been restricted. We have done as much as we could with the volunteer resources we have to address the primary problem areas. There were many, many properties that we didn't  and couldn't help.  Most of us this year experienced this feeling of frustration. But a bad weed year makes one realize that weeds, on or in front of your shoreline, often come with living on the lake. You either deal with the issue yourself, hire someone or wait for the natural winter cycle to resolve the problem.

Thanks for your understanding of this unusual and difficult situation,

FLLA board of Directors
Steve Schmaltz,President