Milfoil Update: Fall 2023 Newsletter snip-it
Stayed tuned for 2024 Milfoil Initiatives !!
Milfoil Action Committee 2022
THE COMMITTEE WAS CREATED TO SUPPORT ACTIONS AGAINST EURASIAN MILFOIL AND YOU ARE INVITED TO JOIN.
Since the 2017, the Association has conducted a number of activities to raise awareness of Milfoil and its spread in Wollaston Lake.
We have conducted workshops, purchased equipment available on loan for manual removal, and set up markers to warn boaters of some of these Milfoil Beds. We worked to get permits from the MNRF to support containment methods including mechanised and diver extraction, and benthic mat deployment.
We understand for some cottagers, areas in and around their docks have become increasingly dense.
Containment activities require funding. The community can benefit from more awareness and better education. Waterfront citizens can help through effective self-management in front of their property.
Therefore, we are asking for participation from the entire community in an Action Committee to address some of the key issues and provide some recommendations back to the cottage association (WLHCA).
This 2022 season was particularly a busy and exciting one for MAC, as we were successful in completing TWO very big projects! The first was the mechanical harvesting project that was started in March 2021, and the second was the “education blitz”
which showcased the new Ontario watercraft operator regulations. Awareness and education are key to ensuring everyone understands what they can do to support lake health and be informed about Eurasian milfoil and the devastating impact it is having on Wollaston
Lake and Deer River, along with the other aquatic invasive species. We have a collective responsibility to not only “clean and drain” our watercrafts but more importantly to learn how to minimize our impact on the sensitive and irreplaceable watersheds and natural land around
us.
MAC 2022 Season ACTION ITEMS:
COMPLETED
• Mechanical harvesting in high
traffic boat area between the
Big Island and Bear Ridge
Campground on July 26&27
• Submitted a permit to MNRF
and DFO for mechanical
harvesting for summer 2023
• We were awarded $1000 microgrant for Ontario with the
Invasive Species Centre
• Purchased and installed 10 new
yellow buoy milfoil bed markers
this season (60 markers in total)
• Drone imaging of major milfoil
beds as required by permit
applications, and to assess year over year growth rate.
Community Youth Contest
“Help Keep Wollaston Lake
and Deer River Healthy and
Clean”
• Education blitz “NEW WATERCRAFT REGULATIONS”
handout: available at community
retailers, township buildings
and website
• Community education sessions
with ISampleON at Township
boat launch and WLHCA BBQ
MILFOIL ACTION COMMITTEE MANDATE
A committee of community members, including those who are not active Association members, and those from the wider community and not on the lake, formed to discuss ideas and opportunities to address our current milfoil issues within Wollaston Lake and upstream/downstream Deer River.
- How to develop fundraising efforts to support the cost of containment activities.
- Ways to develop a community wide awareness effort on containment best practices.
- Ways to promote invasive species (specifically milfoil) education programs for all those who use our Lake
- Ways to promote how to properly self-manage areas around waterfront property
Send an email to: wlhca.news@gmail.com
WE WELCOME YOU TO BECOME A MEMBER OF THIS EXCITING NEW COMMITTEE!
WHAT IS EURASIAN WATERMILFOIL?
Milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum) is an invasive aquatic plant native to Europe, Asia and North Africa. It was first documented in North America in 1942 in the District of Columbia. It was most likely brought to this continent in the ballast of a ship and has since spread to almost every continental state and throughout Canada.
WHY IS IT A PROBLEM?
Milfoil spreads easily and grows quickly. Milfoil crowds out native plants, reducing biodiversity, diminishes fish habitat and negatively impacts wetland habitats. Dense mats form near the surface. They entangle boat propellers and interfere with swimming and fishing. As a result, Milfoil can adversely affect our local tourist-dependent economy.
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO WHEN YOU SEE MILFOIL?
Leave it alone. As a homeowner you can carefully remove plants immediately around the area of your dock. You need to know how to properly remove it, though, because if you break the plant up you will just create more plants and do more harm than good.
WHERE IS IT LOCATED IN WOLLASTON LAKE?
It is in many areas on our lake already! Large infestations have been marked by YELLOW MARKERS. Please do not drive any motors within the confines of these markers or the milfoil will fragment and spread (see below).
HOW DOES MILFOIL SPREAD?
The primary way milfoil spreads is through vegetative reproduction. This spread is mainly through fragmentation of plant tips or through root expansion. With fragmentation, even a very small piece of this aquatic plant can float away, re-root and begin a new colony. It is easily fragmented and moved around within lakes by boats, or between lakes via boats and trailers. milfoil can form thick, floating mats of vegetation, clogging the water and hindering recreation. It can grow in water 0.5 - 10 meters deep.
what is the wlhca doing about it?
The WLHCA is exploring ways to reduce the spread of milfoil from Wollaston Lake. However, doing so will require awareness and a financial investment from everyone in the community each year in order to cut back on the invasive species’ footprint.
If we don't do something soon, it's not a question of IF milfoil will take over our lake. Research shows that if action is not taken, milfoil can take over a lake in just a few years. If that happens, make no mistake, it will affect everyone in our community.
The two most common methods to control milfoil are hand harvesting and matting. These are not easy jobs. Because the plant self-fragments, pieces of milfoil from patches break off and re-root nearby, confounding efforts to completely eradicate it.
Based on the first confirmed sighting of Eurasian Water-Milfoil in 2016, the WLHCA, through the Federation of Ontario Cottagers Associations (FOCA) 2017 Aquatic Invasive Species Program, arranged for a consultant to visit Wollaston Lake on August 18, 2017 to conduct a thorough review of the waterfront. Read the final report by clicking on the link below:
INVASIVE SPECIES PILOT PROJECT
PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW TO SEE A CLOSE UP OF WHAT HAPPENS TO A LAKE WHEN MILFOIL GOES UNCHECKED. THESE IMAGES AREN'T A SCARE TACTIC. THEY ARE THE REALITY OF WHAT WE WILL SEE ON WOLLASTON LAKE UNLESS WE COME TOGETHER AS A COMMUNITY TO TACKLE THIS ISSUE!
