In 2019 it was brought to our attention that the County of Marinette was developing a method in which a chemical herbicide and a floating wall barrier could be used to control the growth of EWM, an invasive plant that had entered our lake. A floating curtain barrier would be used to contain the herbicide in an enclosed area allowing the herbicide to be adsorbed by the plants over a short period of time killing the non-native weeds while not effecting the native plants.
We then built our own floating curtain barriers and contracted with a herbicide applicator to apply a 2-4d herbicide to a small test area in a small bay on the northwest corner of the lake. Results were very encouraging, and with the help of our lake biologist and Lake Management consultant, we moved forward with this method the following year.
Unfortunately, we were not as successful in 2020 and 2021 with this application process but were still able to receive grant funds for the summers of 2022 and 2023 after making a few changes in our process. Those two years proved to be extremely successful.
The Board will be reviewing the lake survey information (see maps on the Members Tab in the Lake Management links) provided by Onterra LLC which was completed this past late summer to determine the effectiveness of the 2023 treatment and areas that we would like to treat going forward. Each year a before and after survey is completed to appropriately plan what we do or don’t do going forward.
