Good evening all.
I’ll bet you all are wondering what’s going on. Well, we’ve been very busy…
With 2017 DEC permits approved and in-hand, we are finalizing plans for herbicide treatment of Bemus Bay on Monday, June 26 and/or Tuesday, June 27, 2017.
An Information Session will be conducted from 9:00-11:00 am on Saturday, June 24, at The Village Casino. We’ll bring CLP members and others up to date on activities since the Rally on May 29, describe what will be happening over the next few weeks, what to expect from this year’s treatment and answer questions. Coffee and juice will be available as well as an opportunity to purchase CLP shirts, hats and koozies, make a donation to CLP and meet your neighbors. Once again, a special thanks goes to The Village Casino for use of their facility and their hospitality.
The mild winter facilitated an early and prolific growth of previously-established invasive weeds in Bemus Bay, mostly Curly Leaf Pondweed and Eurasian Water Milfoil, with floating and landed cut weeds and weed-choked and foul-smelling shoreline and nearshore conditions in the Bay and many parts of the Lake. As at the Rally, there would likely be no Pondweed or Milfoil or associated fragments in the Bay if an early May herbicide treatment had been done.
So, herbicide treatment in Bemus Bay in 2017 has been permitted by the NYSDEC and is planned for Monday, June 26, and/or Tuesday, June 27, 2017. Leadership by the Ellery Town Council and Village of Bemus Point Board of Trustees with support from 150+ CLP members and its 110 individual and business benefactors, the Lenna and Chautauqua Region Community Foundations, key elected representatives and others have made this possible.
In summary…
- Herbicide treatment is the key component of the (2017 Bemus Bay) Data Collection Project (formerly called the 2017 Weed Management Demonstration Project) with permits approved by the DEC.
- Treatment will be done in four Treatment Areas along the Bemus Bay shoreline in three herbicide-acceptable zones identified in the County’s Macrophyte Management Strategy (N152, N154 and N155, see attached map), Areas in which CLP’s May, 2017, survey showed a high concentrations of invasives.
- The four Treatment Areas are bounded by the shoreline and test plot edges (as on the map) extending 200′ from the shoreline along a total of 1-1/4 miles of the 2 mile (65%) Bemus Bay shoreline. The most northerly Area includes a 45′ wide channel leading from the Summit Park Drive docks through the weed bed to deeper water. Treatment Areas are of 5.1, 5.4, 15 and 4 acres, respectively, a total of ~30 acres.
- One of four SOLitude-proposed/DEC-approved combinations of NAVIGATE and AQUATHOL-K herbicides will be used in each Treatment Area.
- One Control Site, N153, is located between Treatment Areas N152 and N154. A second Control Site is adjacent to Treatment Area N155B. Herbicides will not be applied in Control Sites, MMS zones not identified as herbicide-acceptable. Herbicide effectiveness on invasives and natives and application drift will be evaluated based on post-treatment test results in Treatment Areas and Control Sites.
- DEC-approved water use restrictions will be in place during the treatment and for short periods thereafter. However, the treatment schedule is planned so that swimming and fishing restrictions would be lifted in advance of the July 4th weekend. These restrictions have been communicated by 1st Class mail to 640 lakeside property owners on both sides of the Bay and beyond, have been published in the June 22 Jamestown Post-Journal and will be posted on signs at Lake access points prior to treatment. A copy of the sign is below and the newspaper notification are attached.
To ensure smooth operations and handle unforeseen situations if they arise, the CLP and the Chautauqua County Planning Department/Watershed Coordinator are coordinating treatment and testing logistics between the Town of Ellery, the Village of Bemus Point, the Chautauqua County Board of Health and Sheriff Departments, the Bemus Point Fire Department, the Chautauqua Lake Association, the Chautauqua Lake and Watershed Management Alliance, SOLitude Lake Management, Inc. and the CLP. We appreciate the involvement and support of these organizations.
The CLP’s Shoreline/Nearshore Cleanup Demonstration Project, managed by CLP Treasurer Mike Latone, is scheduled for Monday, July 17 through Sunday, July 30, 2017. Funding has been secured, Cleanup equipment has been contracted, Transport equipment is being built and operating contracts developed. The Chautauqua Lake Association has volunteered to accept the collected weeds at their Long Point State Park facility and transport them to farmers to be used as compost.
The Shoreline Project will include testing of minimum water depth operation, Cleanup equipment weed removal capacity and Transport equipment weed movement capacity in various locations on the Bemus Bay shoreline. Mike will begin identifying shoreline test locations the week of July 10.
As you know, the Chautauqua Lake Partnership, now over 150 strong and still growing, has adopted two logos. We’re using these logos along with our slogan, “Chautauqua Lake, A Great Lake Seeking a Greater Future“. We’ll have hats, t-shirts and koozies with the logos available for purchase at the Information Session and from Marcia Cirbus at jcclp@chautauqualakepartners.
Chautauqua Lake Partnership Officers and Board Members