CPS Energy manages two such lakes. Braunig Lake cools the utility’s V.H. Braunig Power Station, a natural gas plant. Calaveras Lake is the larger of the two and cools CPS Energy’s J.K. Spruce coal plant and its O.W. Sommers plant, which runs on natural gas.

Both cooling lakes are very productive fisheries due to the elevated water temperature, but being close to San Antonio, with 1.8 million people, the fish stocks get fished out requiring restocking about every year.

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A Message From Our Leader: Lake Management, Do Your Prefer Soup or Salad?

Weed Harvester Does What Residents Can’t

Aquatic Plant Removal Improves Fish Habitat

Controlling the Uncontrollable

Upcoming Event:

• Best Practices in Waterway Debris Removal

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Although representatives from the state say the herbicide won’t unduly harm species other than milfoil, critics of the practice say it does harm fish, even if it works as intended.

Some of the best fishing in a lake or pond occurs at the border between milfoil and open water, said Shawn Good, a fisheries scientist with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. That’s because big fish prey on juvenile fish that live within the milfoil, he said, and juvenile fish live in milfoil because it offers nutrients and protection and the other qualities that define a good fish habitat, he said.

A lake with a milfoil infestation and more than half its area free of the invasive plant still serves as a functional ecosystem. Such a lake provides much better habitat for fish than the same lake following an herbicide treatment, when the milfoil that once provided living quarters for small fish lies rotting on the bottom of the lake.

Fish can’t distinguish between native species and invasive milfoil, Good said, and they flourish in milfoil just as readily as in any other dense aquatic foliage.

When lake associations like the Lake Iroquois Association apply lake-wide herbicide, it kills off all the milfoil, leaving the fish without their accustomed habitat.

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The CLA in New York is the organization that helps manage weeds on the lake by operating a number of harvesters to remove weeds throughout the summer season.

The 10 objections (printed below) from the CLA range from failure to notify all effected shoreline property owners, to the lack of scientific understanding of lake currents that could spread the chemical herbicides well beyond the areas being targeted for herbicide use. Because the permit calls for the use of both the chemicals Aquathol K and Navigate, the CLA also argues the effective coverage area is actually 2,400 acres under the current permitting request.

The 10 objections cited by the CLA to the DEC are:

1. Inappropriate herbicide use endangers fish, animals, birds, insects and plants.
The applications also do not fit within any invasive species or lake management plan ever written & the fully implemented aquatic plant harvesting can work to control nuisance plant growth in Chautauqua Lake – without resorting to herbicides.
2. Affected property owners were not appropriately notified.
3. Failure to comply with county plans.
4. Permit application defies DEC regulations.
5. Proper testing was not performed in 2018
6. “Need” for herbicide use based on flawed surveys.
7. Conflict of interest on who applies the herbicide.
8. Bottom cover should be determined by third-party divers, not guesswork.
9. Coverage area could reach 2,400 acres, without third-party, scientific evaluation of need or efficacy.
10. Lake current patterns – which could disperse the chemicals over a much wider area – are unknown.

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It increases sedimentation rate, allowing more sediment to settle out of the water. And it can decrease the dissolved oxygen concentration in the water because it is growing so rapidly and using up all of that oxygen. But it also just displaces native aquatic plants, which are good forage for a variety of waterfowl species.

In addition, elodea can ruin the clear-water habitat needed by grayling and spawning salmon, and give an advantage to ambush predators like northern pike.

Applications of aquatic herbicide fluridone have appeared to have worked, and there is no elodea visible in Lake Hood (Alaska) now, but the herbicides killed most of the other plant life in Lake Hood as well.

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A decade later later, the aquatic invasive species made its way to New York and now stretches fro Long Island, inland to the Hudson River Valley and up to Lake Champlain and is spread throught the Finger Lakes.

The water chestnut most directly impacts aquatic ecosystems by blocking sunlight from penetrating the water and preventing other aquatic vegetation from photosynthesizing. At the same time, the water chestnut photosynthesizes at the surface, restricting oxygen exchange under its cover. Other aquatic life, particularly fish, can be sensitive to low-oxygen environments. For the recreationist, water chestnuts make boating, fishing and swimming a crowded feat.

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According to Jane Dauffenbach, President of Aquarius Systems, at the factory in North Prairie they make metal float. The raw material comes in and the talented staff bend it, punch it, cut it and weld it to form the mechanical harvesters which are then sold around the World.

The harvester gives the plants a little haircut which removes the heavy vegetation to make the lakes more enjoyable. It makes swimming areas useable and boating and fishing enjoyable. Plus, it is good for the fish; giving them room to swim as well leaving behind enough of the plants for habitat and food.

Operators say without the harvester, the weeds would get in the way of how people enjoy the lakes. Not only the summer, but during the ice fishing season of the season.

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Researchers said cleaning, draining and drying boats is nearly 100% effective at keeping AIS out of Montana. That is why boat inspections are required in the state. Seaplanes are also required to undergo inspection.

According to the Seaplane Pilots Association, pilots are strong advocates for the protection of those waterways. Pacific Northwest seaplane pilots created a program that allows pilots to perform their own invasive species inspections. Seaplane pilots annually take an online AIS training course, take a test and receive completion certificate.

The training shows participants how to analyze seaplane aircraft for contamination and, if detected, how to rid the invasive species from the craft.

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– Immediate relief from nuisance plants that interfere with navigation and recreation
– Immediate use of the water for swimming or irrigation
– There is nothing foreign introduced to the environment when using mechanical control
– Biomass is removed from the water and along with it the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium that are bound up in the vegetation
– Harvesting does not kill the vegetation, but instead gives it a hair-cut, leaving behind living plants that continue to provide oxygen and habitat for the other organisms

– The living plants left behind continue to absorb the polluting nutrients that are used for growth
– Harvesting vegetation from the lake greatly reduces the tons of biomass that will eventually die and collapse at the end of the season. This biomass will decompose, consume oxygen, and release nutrients back into the water column to grow more weeds and algae in the future.
– Harvesting the biomass also reduces the build-up of muck and sediment on the bottom that occurs from the rotting weeds
– The Harvester is a tool to be used to improve the fishery. For example “Cruising Lanes” can be formed into certain weeds beds to provide access for fishermen, and for predator fish too; the predator fish will graze the edges of trimmed weeds beds to find prey.
– Over time plants become stressed and grow more sparse and shorter in height in frequently harvested sites
– Lake weeds make a great compost and soil conditioner. The decomposed vegetation compares to cow manure in terms nutrient content. Also, it contains no seeds that can grow on land.

– Harvesting is a highly selective process. Exactly where you steer the machine is exactly where the plants will be cut.
– Aquatic Plant Harvesters are available in many sizes with a variety of features to be customized to your application
– A Harvester is an essential tool in the lake manager’s tool box. It can be made to cut shallow or deep, narrow or wide, fast or slow, depending on what is needed.
– A Harvester compliments other lake management strategies, including herbicide use. For example, the canopy of vegetation can be harvested BEFORE a chemical treatment is done. This technique may save money because it enables the lake manager to use less herbicide. And it will reduce the negative environmental impacts of using chemicals by reducing the tonnage of biomass that settles to the bottom to decompose