Mechanical Harvesting Removes Invasive Eurasian Watermilfoil

In the last few decades, the lake’s weedy, northern-most portion has clogged hulls and deterred boaters from entering the lake from the Oswegatchie River. Patches of weeds greet the water’s surface near every dock, and nearly invisible from a distance on a windy day, matted greenery creates a basin of weeds seven-feet-deep in some spots.

As part of a summer-long effort to cut a channel in Black Lake (New York), the Black Lake Association used an aquatic weed harvester to cut and remove invasive Eurasian watermilfoil.  On one September afternoon, the Black Lake Association harvested roughly 6,000 pounds of invasive wet weeds in less than two hours.

The harvested vegetation was taken to a local dairy farm to be used as fertilizer.

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