(Spirit Lake)– Eurasian watermilfoil and a new aquatic invasive plant have now been found in portions of West Lake Okoboji. John Wills of the Dickinson County Cleanwater Alliance made reference to the recent discoveries during today’s (Tues.) Board of Supervisors meeting. He says treating the invasive plants in that size of a lake is going to be extremely difficult, compared to the smaller lakes in the lower part of the Iowa Great Lakes that were treated previously for infestations…
“There’s going to be a group that will be getting together. I wouldn’t say that we can’t treat West Okoboji. I think to treat the whole lake like we treated East Okoboji is physically impossible. That would not, because of the depth, the amount of water, to get the amount of killing, the killing amount that we’d need, would be impossible. But small areas like Millers Bay, the harbor, or Triboji, the canals, those are all, my understanding, have all had eurasian milfoil found and brittle naiad, which is a new invasive.”
The discussion ironically surfaced as Wills was addressing the supervisors on some proposed revisions to a 28E agreement for the Dickinson County Water Quality Commission. One of the key changes would be an increase in contributions from member entities based on changes in property values. He says the goal is to increase the $200,000 currently available for water quality projects to $250,000, with the additional $50,000 being set aside for emergencies…
“Right now we don’t have, we have nothing, and so to have a cushion or to have something that we can immediately just shock treat that, those specific areas, would be an important aspect. But right now we have nothing and so we’re going to have to go through the same process we did last year, if there’s anything viable to do, and then go around and ask for donations and ask for contributions for this treatment. $50,000 isn’t a lot but it’s at least enough to get us started and to at least get us in the door and get something done immediately.”
The supervisors took no action on the proposed revisions.
