By Maurice Emery
Editor Emeritus

BRACEY, VA – The Lake Gaston Weed Control Council opened its meeting last week and immediately went into a closed session. This unusual move was necessary because the meeting was called at the last minute and a couple of members had to leave to go to other meetings.
When the council reconvened it wasted no time in addressing the other agenda items including what may be considered the two priority items – a possible cut in funds from Brunswick County and approval of the 2007 Weed Treatment Plan.
To begin Dr. Elton Brown, council president, told the council that they have two applicants for the executive director position. They will be interviewed in the near future.
The council agreed that the contract for the 2007 weed treatment plan with Professional Lake Management (PLM) would be signed at the end of the meeting.
Brunswick County Supervisor Robert Conner asked the council what effect last year’s treatment had on hydrilla. Chris Cheek, president of PLM, replied that they have not totally assessed last year’s results, but they were in the process of doing so.
When the question came up about the reports that Brunswick County has only budgeted $40,000 for the 2007-2008 fiscal year contribution for weed control a discussion was held on how to deal with it. The county contributed $116,000 in the present year.
In the end the council passed a resolution stating “that any county that fails to pay their appropriate share their treatment will be prorated according to how much they do contribute.”
The next agenda item was the money the last Republican Congress approved for the Army Corps of Engineers for use on Lake Gaston studies.
Although they were approved as part of an agriculture bill, the funds were an earmark to the bill. Brown reported the earmarks were a casualty of the new Democratic congress. This means that the funds scheduled for the 2007 and 2008 cycles will not be available.
Virginia Congressman Virgil Goode Jr. told Brown that there would be a better possibility of getting the money if they abandoned the effort this year and waited until next year.
Staying with the funding of weed treatment Brown reported that Virginia may have another $50,000 for Lake Gaston weed treatment. The money is part of $100,000 still available to be spent for treating hydrilla in the Potomac River and Lake Gaston. The council may get half of that money.
When the Observer asked about this year’s North Carolina funding, Halifax County Supervisor Rives “Judge” Manning replied that everything is on track to receive the money earlier this year than last.
Last year’s funding was delayed to comply with a new state law to provide better oversight for funds used by groups like the weed council. The solution for the problem was to funnel the money through Halifax County. This year they have already started that process to comply with the law.
Brown then reported on the grass carp telemetry project just started in the lake. Subsequent to the meeting Robert “Rob” J. Richardson, Ph.D., assistant professor, aquatic and non-cropland weed management in the Crop Science Department of North Carolina State Universit,y released information on the study.
Richardson reported that more than 7,000 carp, all between 10 inches and 12 inches long, were released into the lake at two separate sites: the U.S. 1 boat ramp in Virginia and the North Carolina 903 ramp in North Carolina.
At the time telemetry devices for tracking their movements around the lake were implanted in 18 of the carp released at the U.S. 1 boat ramp. Another 17 carp with the telemetry devices will be released at a later date in North Carolina.
According to Richardson the implanted tags are on two-week active cycles, meaning the signal is on for two weeks, then off two weeks. The intent is to monitor the carp for various lengths of time at various times to track their habits.
When the 17 fish are released in North Carolina they will be briefly tracked at the time they are released to see where they go when they are released. They will also be monitoring the monthly movement of all tagged fish at least until March of 2008.
Dr. Richardson’s complete telemetry plan is available at the Observer Website at http://www.littletonobserver.com/
The meeting then turned to the issue of the 2007 weed treatment plan. Chris Cheek, president of PLM, told the council that the plan calls for three treatments this year. A fourth treatment, if needed, would be an additional cost.
Cheek feels that three treatments will get the job done if they start as early as the hydrilla growth allows and are able to follow up with two additional treatments in the scheduled time period.
The original proposal called for the treatments to start on April 30 but the start date has been delayed until at least May 14. Treatment cannot start until certain criteria are met involving the growth of the hydrilla. There are many factors that determine how fast the plant grows; a couple of them are the temperature and turbidity of the water.
Other items addressed at the meeting were:
• The South Carolina Aquatic meeting to be held in August of this year.
• The council was informed that the Lake Gaston treatment program is a model for other areas of the country.
• It was announced that Northampton County Commissioner Henry Moncure had resigned for health reasons. Moncure was one of the original members of the weed council.
• Prior to closing the meeting the council agreed that if Brunswick County did pass a budget that only allows $40,000 for weed treatment, the council would have to meet again to determine how it would affect this year’s treatment.