Phase 1 of milfoil clean-up complete

The first phase of the removal of variable-leaf milfoil from Paradox Bay and Lake Placid wrapped up Friday afternoon, July 24. The crew isolated and removed the main colony of the aquatic plant from Paradox Bay; removed all satellite colonies from Paradox Bay; and Removed all visible plant fragments from from the shoreline waters of East Lake, all the way to the northern bays.

We extend our thanks to Andrew Lewis and Tom Thomson of Aquatic Invasive Management, LLC and the entire dive crew for their fast and efficient work over these past two weeks. The team will return to the lake after Labor Day to remove any milfoil plants that may have been overlooked during Phase 1. Smaller teams will return next year and for two years to follow to make sure that no latent growth emerges from this outbreak.


Dive team members—clockwise from lower left: Jay Dominie, Lee Jopling, Tim McDonough, Brad Young, Bill Richards, Kyle Jaquis and Walter Rooks have breakfast with former SOA President Sue Riggins, courtesy of the Butler Family and the staff at The Comfort Inn. (Not pictured, Kristie Wikane, Andrew Lewis and Tommy Thomson.)

Failure to launch

An illustration of why boater self-education alone is unlikely to slow the spread of invasive species.
(courtesy of Tom Varden)

A thought about those large spots on the bottom of Paradox Bay

If you are not satisfied with the standard scientific answer that these spots are established, stable colonies of native plants, you might be looking at the trademark footprints of the legendary Plassie (figure B).

Enhanced aerial photo comparison

Through the miracle of PhotoShop, here is a contrast-enhanced comparison of the variable-leaf milfoil bed on Paradox Bay. The variable-leaf colonies are the irregular dark patches on the first image. The kayaks on the second image give you a sense of scale.

Photos courtesy of Ed McNeil, Dr. Charlie Canham, and Larry Master.

Milfoil: com-post facto

Thanks to Mike Farrell at the Lake Placid Community Garden, the variable-leaf milfoil has a final resting place—far away from open water. Thus, the milfoil bequeaths its nutrients to next year's vegetable crops, not the lake. Rest in peas.

Photo courtesy of Kelly Kilgallon, Adirondack Life magazine

Variable-leaf milfoil clean-up: week 2

Aquatic Invasive Management divers completed the removal of the .4 acre colony of VLM by Wednesday last week, proceeding to a full sweep of the lake bed on Paradox Bay. By yesterday morning they were ready to head out into East Lake to pursue fragments that had escaped over the course of the past month. By the end of the day the team had covered the eastern shoreline of East Lake from Paradox Bay north to Pulpit Rock. Few fragments were found. The team will finish scanning the shallows along the eastern shore and northern bays then cover the eastern edges of the peninsula, Buck, Moose and Hawk Islands before wrapping up work Friday. They will return after Labor Day for a second sweep of the lake.

Paradox Bay "no wake zone" public hearing tonight

Just a reminder that the Village of Lake Placid Trustees will hold a public hearing this evening at 5:30 at the North Elba Town Hall (first floor) on reducing the speed limit on Paradox Bay to 5MPH anywhere within 1,500 feet of shore (pretty much throughout).

The ordinance was proposed at the board's July 6th meeting in response to the milfoil outbreak on the bay. While most of the existing milfoil has been removed and the threat of spreading the weed by heavy wakes and fast-moving traffic into the main lake has been largely eliminated at this point, the "no wake zone" proposal still has environmental and public safety merits.

Ecologically, large wakes erode undeveloped shoreline, adding silt and dissolved organic nutrients to the water. A lower speed limit would also increase safety for the canoe/kayak/paddleboat traffic (many renters from the motels at the south end of the bay).

Paradox Bay aerial view: July 15

Ed McNeil took to the air again (this time with Larry Master) to show the clean-up process. By the third day, most of the main colony had been removed (upper right). The yellow spidery object is a floating air compressor umbilically connected to the divers.

A cartoon from the archives

(click cartoon for larger image)

This 2003 cartoon was drawn in response to the Adirondack Park Agency's decision to bar the use of the herbicide SONAR in controlling Eurasian watermilfoil growth on Lake George.

Though the APA still forbids chemical controls on aquatic invasives in the Park, They have responded to Lake Placid's vlm outbreak by instituting a rapid response permit application, allowing us to address the problem quickly.

2 aerial views of Paradox Bay

The top image, taken by Ed McNeil and Dr. Charles Canham show the vlm main and satellite colonies interspersed among beds of native vegetation (round shapes). The bottom image of Paradox Bay from Google Earth (less than four years old) shows the native vegetation, but no vlm.

Lake Placid variable-leaf milfoil outbreak timeline

Late June 2009 Nancy Rosenthal, kayaking along eastern shoreline of East Lake north of Lake Placid Marina, retrieves a fragment of milfoil from the lake suface.

Sue Riggins subsequently discovers a submerged milfoil plant on Paradox Bay not far from the Canoe Club boathouse; she delivers the samples to Hilary Smith at Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program (APIPP).

Mark Wilson retrieves more milfoil fragments from Paradox Bay.

June 25 APIPP identifies milfoil samples as variable-leaf milfoil (vlm), an aquatic nuisance plant listed as invasive throughout New England states, and on APIPP's aquatic invasive watch list.

SOA issues press release on milfoil discovery. Stories featured in Adirondack Daily Enterprise, Lake Placid News, WNBZ, among others.

June 26 APIPP Aquatic Plant Coordinator Tyler Smith, John Rosenthal, and Mark Wilson map out a dense bed of vlm measuring .4 acres located across from the lansing docks on the peninsula side of the main channel, and numerous satellite colonies scattered around the bay.

June 27 SOA Trustees discuss the outbreak, its ecological and fiscal impact at the Board's scheduled June meeting. The Board authorizes the solicitation of bids to contain and eradicate the plant. A committee is formed to discuss financing of the clean-up project. Trustees discuss the need to work cooperatively with state and local agencies to clean up the current outbreak and to prevent future invasions.

June 28 Marty and Mary Shubert, Ben Shubert, Molly Hann and Mark Wilson set out temporary marker buoys to isolate the core vlm colony. Molly Hann, who was Lake Placid's first Lake Steward and has conducted numerous surveys of Paradox Bay aquatic plants reports that the .4 acre vlm bed did not exist on her last comprehensive survey 3-4 years ago.

June 30 Contacted by the SOA, Dan Kelting of the Adirondack Watershed Institute, of Paul Smith's College, advises using benthic mats (large, weighted opaque sheets) to smother the plants.

July 1 SOA President Wilson meets with North Elba Supervisor Robi Politi, Lake Placid Village Deputy Mayor Zay Curtis, and Village Roads Superintendent Brad Hathaway to discuss temporary closure of the
village boat launch, until the main plant bed is contained, to prevent further spread of the vlm by boats traveling out of the bay over the busy holiday weekend. Decision is deferred until the the Village board has had a chance to discuss the matter on July 6th.

Andrew Lewis and Tommy Thomson of Aquatic Invasive Management, LLC (AIM, LLC) visit the site to appraise the scope of the job. They recommend hand-harvesting the vlm with a 10-person dive/collector team.

July 2 DEC supplements SOA marker buoys with orange and white "danger" spar buoys.

July 2-3 SOA distributes milfoil alert posters to docks and boats around Paradox Bay.

July 6 Ed McNeil of the Adirondack Chapter of the Nature Conservancy and Dr, Charlie Canham take aerial photos of the Paradox Bay vlm colonies and all littoral regions of the lake. They find no established colonies beyond Paradox Bay.

SOA President Wilson and Secretary Quayle, Trustees Cameron, Keller and Varden and Executive Secretary Broderick address the Lake Placid Village Board. Board acts to close the village launch for up to one month during the initial clean-up operation. The Board also moves forward with a measure to effectively reduce the speed limit on Paradox Bay to 5 MPH.

July 7-10 SOA Trustees agree to hire AIM, LLC to contain and remove the vlm. SOA applies to the APA for necessary permits.

July 9 Milfoil clean-up effort is the topic of discussion on WNBZ's North Country today. Lake Placid Community Gardens agrres to compost the vlm.

July 13 AIM, LLC surrounds the main colony with fragment curtains and begins removing the variable-leaf milfoil.