In response to a plan put together by Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper, council members decided to decline the Idaho State Department of Agriculture’s offer to apply herbicide treatments in areas of watermilfoil infestation. This option came at no cost to the city, but the idea of herbicides in the water made many residents cringe.
After proposing a non-herbicide management plan, Waterkeeper representatives turned down the free aquatic weed control and opted for a treatment plant that combines driver dredging, the manual removal of weeds, and bottom barriers. The treatment plant will cost between $40,000 and $54,000, but according to Idaho State Department of Agriculture spokesman Tom Woolf, the plan could be effective at managing the area’s invasive species.