Dear Lake Neighbors (near and far),
I’m writing to each of you because you’ve expressed some interest in the past in our efforts removing milfoil from the Lake Salem.
We are very fortunate to have booked a suction harvester crew to work on L. Salem the first week of August. This equipment will really speed our efforts removing milfoil. We could use help searching the lake for larger patches of Eurasian Water Milfoil (EWM) over the next two weeks while you are out boating or paddling, on Big Salem especially. Please spread the word among your neighbors.
We have some EWM sites already selected for harvest but don’t want to miss out on this opportunity to remove others currently unknown to us. This is a race against time. We are seeing ample evidence of healthy EWM growth during the 10 dives that we’ve completed so far, lots more EWM than expected. Our lower water levels means the potential for more plant fragments created by boats, jet skis, paddlers and even people fishing. There have been more reports this summer of EWM found on beaches than I have seen in the past three years.
During the next two weeks, I am most interested in finding groups of six or more EWM plants or areas with numerous EWM scattered over concentrated areas greater than 10’. The suction harvester is more suitable to these larger concentrations of EWM. But of course, any findings you make are of interest and worthy of marking for removal. Speaking of markers or buoys, you’ll need some device to mark the location even if it is only string attached to a plastic bottle with adequate weight. We have a few we can loan to you. Physical references work too if that is all you have (“100’ from this dock”, etc.) You can use our buoys (mostly foot-long red and orange pool noodles) as reference or starting points if you want.
I would like to concentrate the searches to areas not adequately surveyed so far this season. They are:
- Along route 105, especially the large weed area that extends well out into the lake
- Clyde River outlet to Town Beach ( please be careful around swimmers)
- Among the boat moorings in the Hideaway Drive area ( please be careful not to impede boat traffic with too many buoys)
- Near the Clyde River inlet
- Any place your intuition tells you to check
Please search in both shallow and in deeper water up to the drop-off or loss of plant visibility. Calm days are best of course and often means searching early and late in the day before wind kicks up or has died down.
Thanks in advance to all who can help out. Please trim boat motors to just under the surface when in weedy area to limit spreading fragments. The boat access greeter shanty has identification resource to help you as well as a few temporary buoys (by Thursday) to assist with marking EWM discoveries. Please return them when you are done. You can notify me of any buoys you place in the lake and their approximate location at this email address. Please don’t be concerned with misidentifying EWM, it happens to all of us! Happy hunting! See you out on the lake.
Best,
Ed
802-578-3037