(Orleans)– The battle against curly leaf pond weed in the Iowa Great Lakes continues as it has in recent years. Mike Hawkins of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources tells KUOO news the battle against the aquatic invasive weed has been ongoing through the winter and will enter a new phase once the ice goes out…
“We’re working on an under ice treatment that’s been ongoing through the winter here on the north portion of East Okoboji, that would be the area north of the narrows. A very low concentration of a herbicide called Sonar is used to do that work. It’s really slow acting but it kills that growing plant underneath the ice. The benefit of that is that none of the native plants in the lake are growing at this time of year, it’s only curly leaf pond weed that grows underneath the ice. We’re also doing that same treatment at Lower Gar lake. We’ve had some good success with that where it’s worked really well in the past in some spots then we’ve had some other years, last year in particular, where our treatment at Lower Gar did not work as well.”
Hawkins says some follow-up shoreline treatments will be done later this spring near boat ramps once the water temperature warms to 60 degrees.
Curly leaf pond weed in past years has been especially notable on the lower chain of the Iowa Great Lakes, however Hawkins says it was also found this past season on areas of Big Spirit Lake. The plant typically reaches its maximum growth in the spring and dies off in June.
Hawkins again reminds lakeshore property owners not to take matters into their own hands when it comes to chemical treatments…
“It is not legal for private homeowners, riparian owners, or anyone, to do a pesticide application in the lake, in a public waterway. Really need to avoid that. It’s a very specialty type application, there’s a lot of work and calculations that go into it and the products we use are very safe. Somebody that doesn’t know what they’re doing or is just trying to take matters into their own hands can cause some harm. We really want to avoid that. People can do mechanical removal around their docks and hoists, though. There are rules that allow for that.”
More information on that is available by contacting the fish hatchery in Orleans.
Hawkins expressed the DNR’s appreciation to the city of Orleans and the East Okoboji Lakes Improvement Corporation for their ongoing support of the curly leaf treatment project.
