Ready to go

By Maurice Emery
Editor Emeritus

At this month’s Lake Gaston Weed Control Council (LGWCC) meeting the council took steps to help ensure that the 2008 weed treatment could start early enough to maximize this year’s result. 

The council also announced that information on last year’s treatment would be made accessible to all property owners who have access to the Internet. 

There is no doubt that last year’s treatment was the most effective to date. Chris Cheek, president of Professional Lake Management (PLM), the company that provided the treatment, told the council that the treatment was successful throughout the lake. He even highlighted the success in Pea Hill Creek. “Pea Hill Creek is a real success story,” Cheek stated. 

Even the man who was responsible for the treatment in the previous declared it was a success. For years Aquatic Nuisance Plant Control, Inc. (ANPC) was the contractor for treating the noxious weeds. 

The former head of the Lake Gaston operation of ANPC was Skip Wiegersma, now owner of Skip’s Aquatic Solution. He stated, “In my ten plus years I’ve been here this has been the best year for lack of [hydrilla] growth.” 

You might say that 2007 was the result of the perfect storm for treating noxious weeds. 

The Weed Council was able to provide more money than any previous year for treatment, the contractor was able to start treating earlier than most previous years, Mother Nature played a roll in limiting the growth of hydrilla and the movement of the water, and the contractor was able to take years of experience and provide the biggest chemical bank for the buck on the plants. 

As stated one of the reasons for last year’s success surprisingly, was the drought. The lack of rainfall meant that the water did not have as much movement to it. The more it rains the more water moves to deal with the rain. In addition lack of the typical spring rains meant that treatment could start earlier.  

One of the first things that Cheek mentioned when talking about the success of the treatment was getting to the hydrilla in its early stages of growth. Last year the money was available and the contractor was in place well in advance of the start of treatment.

According to National Weather Service the drought should continue this year, the council has more money than it did last year and the contractor will be selected in February in plenty of time for starting an early treatment. 

In an effort to insure that the taxes that the LGWCC spends on treatment are spent appropriately the council delayed awarding this year’s treatment contract because of a minor glitch in the request for a bid. At the same time they help insure that this year’s treatment would be delayed because of the re-bidding necessary to correct the long standing oversight. 

The council set a Feb. 18 meeting date to review the bids and approve the contractor for this year’s treatment. 

Last year prior to treatment the council had a projected $1,251,902.92 available for treatment. The 2007 chemical treatment, including surveys and testing and management fees, cost $1,086,129.80.  In addition, the council spent approximately $38,600 on grass carp.

According to LGWCC President Dr. Elton Brown, as a result of the decrease in hydrilla at the end of the season, there will not be any grass carp added to the lake this year. This should not have real impact on treatment.

According to the experts grass carp eat more when they are young than they do as they get older. Last year’s stocking of younger grass carp should be approaching their peak stage of consumption of hydrilla, which in effect would be like adding carp to the lake. 

At this month’s meeting LGWCC treasurer J. Rives Manning Jr., stated this year’s projected budget is $1,382,973.41 which does not include the money that is supposed to be available from the recent federal budget appropriations bill. That money totals $845,900.

When you total all of the projected funds for the 2008 treatment it exceeds $2.2 million dollars. If all of these funds do become available for this years treatment it will be the most money ever available for a single season to treat noxious weeds in the lake. We could end up with two of the most successful treatment years on record. 

At this month’s meeting the council received three reports. All of the reports were about the 2007 treatment results. Two of them, one each from Professional Lake Management (PLM) and ReMetrix are now available on the web for all to review. 

The LGWCC Website at http://lgwcc.org/ has links and/or information for both of these reports. In both cases LGWCC Brunswick County representative Wally Sayko told the council he would have the information available on the web as quickly as possible. 

Sayko has done just that. He does caution users that, “This is satellite imagery and is a large file. Suggest DSL not dial up connection.” The web site offers a link to the PLM Treatment Summary. On the weed council home page to Treatment Areas/Surveys link on the right side of the page and follow the instructions to the link. 

The PLM report is an easy read and has an excellent breakdown of last years treatment including the areas treated.

To view the ReMetrix Website for public imagery of 2007 treated areas, the link, user name and password are provided on the weed council home page at the bottom. You must have this information to view the maps. (In both cases we have the links on our web page to make it easier for you.)

If you are not familiar with using mapping sites you may have to spend a few minutes figuring it out. Generally speaking you will find the tools needed to enlarge the area you want to view in the upper left corner of the site. Although you are not able to enlarge the maps enough to see your own house, it does allow you to see your area.