With the onset of fall, the town of Cazenovia has begun wrapping up its Cazenovia Lake restoration/weed control efforts for the year and started preparing for 2015.
The town undertook a new, holistic approach to keep the lake free of invasive species this year. This multi-pronged approach included the use of benthic mats, the purchase and deployment of a weed harvester, application of Renovate weed killer (triclopyr) to the lake and a continued focus on rainwater run-off mitigation. The town also has a phosphorous study of the lake ongoing, in conjunction with SUNY ESF, which is investigating the sources of the lake’s high phosphorous levels.
Town Highway Superintendent Tim Hunt said town crews last week made the final runs through the lake with the weed harvester and pulled the machine out for the season. He told the town board during its Oct. 1 work session that he anticipated three weeks of boat maintenance — mostly cleaning and painting — would need to be done on the harvester before it gets put into winter storage.
The harvester was purchased by the town in the spring and began harvesting Eurasian milfoil out of the lake in late June. During its nearly four months of activity, the two-man harvester crew worked four, 10-hour days every week, removing on average eight boatloads of weeds a day, Hunt said. Eight boatloads would fill about three 10-wheel dump truck loads, he said.
The harvester stayed out of the middle of the lake — where the chemical treatment occurred — and spent three weeks working the south end of the lake and a “fair amount” of time at the north end, which had had no weed removal attention for many years, Hunt said.
“It was almost like we started out bush hogging and ended up mowing at north end,” he said. “The boat worked fabulous and ran flawlessly. We got a late start this year, but next year starting earlier will help dramatically.”
The town this year continued it program to lease benthic mats to lakeside property owners. The mats stay on the lake bottom for the season and kill all the weeds on they sit on. The mat program was instituted in 2013 as a way to help lakeside property owners clear pathways to their docks. In 2013 the program leased out about 43 mats, but this year participation increased to 87 mats.
Hunt told the board that town crews had pulled up all the Benthic mats in the lake last week, and found the mats “covered” in zebra mussels, which they were not last year.
“It’s not really a concern for us — we’ll pressure wash and disinfect them before we put them away,” he said.
Town Councilor Liz Moran, who is a water quality specialist by profession, said Cazenovia Lake has had high numbers of zebra mussels in it for about 20 years, so their presence on the mats is not concerning.
Hunt said the town highway department this year also took numerous actions in its regular highway work to protect the health of the lake. He said they installed rock “check dams” dams at all ditches that lead to slopes on the lake, as a way to prevent sedimentation from running into the lake. These were placed at all the roads between Ridge and East Lake that lead to the lake.
The department also purchased a hydroseeder to seed any areas that crews de-vegitated through their normal roadwork. The presence of grass prevents land erosion that occurs in areas of bare dirt, he said.
The town board last week also authorized the town supervisor to hire Robert Johnson, of Racine-Johnson Aquatic Ecologists, to conduct the annual survey aquatic plants in Cazenovia Lake to help assess the possible need for future chemical treatments of the lake to kill invasive species.
The town authorized chemical treatments of the lake in 2009-2012, but did not treat in 2013. They went back to chemical treatment this year.
Johnson, who has been doing the Cazenovia Lake surveys since 2009, will use the “rake toss” method, which is quite simply tossing a rake head into the water and cataloguing the aquatic plants that are pulled out. The study will help the town board decide whether or not a chemical treatment program for the lake is necessary in 2015.
Johnson’s survey and accompanying report to the town board will be completed no later than Nov. 15, and the cost will not exceed $8,500, according to the agreement approved by the town board.
“I think it all went pretty well,” said Supervisor Bill Zupan about the 2014 lake health efforts. “We had learning curve this year with harvester and hopefully it will go faster next year. We’ll have experienced people on the harvester and places we’ll we can get the conveyor to, and it should go better. The chemical treatment seemed to go very well; it cleaned out the lake a lot earlier than normal and we could take signs down. I’m pretty happy with whole ball of wax.”
Moran agreed. “This collaboration of town, village and lake association is working well,” she said. “There is no magic bullet, but we are using a lot of different tools to manage the lake for recreational use. And, we are continuing to monitor so we have the data and information needed to adapt to changing conditions.”
Zupan also reminded town residents that the 2014 Cazenovia Lake Summit is scheduled for Nov. 24 in the second floor meeting room of the village municipal building. Lake health experts and local officials will discuss various lake issues and this year’s lake treatments, Zupan said. The meeting is open to the public.
Finally, the board reminded residents that the blue-green algae health alert remains in effect for Cazenovia Lake. The town first issued the alert during the week of Aug. 25, after water samples collected in nearshore areas of Cazenovia Lake showed elevated counts of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae). Microscopic examination confirmed the presence of Microcystis; some species of this cyanobacteria are known to release harmful chemicals.
All users of the lake are advised to avoid contact with areas of the lake with visible blooms (where the water appears green or streaky). The blooms have had a continued presence in the lake for the past month, and have been moving around the lake with the currents.
The town also recently issued a pamphlet, provided by the state, informing residents about how algae blooms can harm their dogs and educating them on the signs of toxin poisoning in pets that may have come into contact with cyanobacteria.
Copies of the “Dogs and harmful algal blooms” pamphlet are available at the town office.
Jason Emerson is editor of the Cazenovia Republican. He can be reached at [email protected].
