Growth of vegetation in Heart Lake has grown to “nuisance levels” according to a new report for the city Parks Department. The report says the vegetation limits the lake area that can be used for fishing, swimming and paddling. And, the city wants to remove the vegetation.
The survey, done by consultants earlier this Fall, suggests the nuisance vegetation covers about 24 acres of the 61 acre Heart Lake.
The city has scheduled a meeting for Tuesday, Dec. 7th at 6:30pm at the Senior Activity Center to learn more about the aquatic plants at Heart Lake. As part of a grant from the Department of Ecology, the city is studying the plant life in Heart Lake as they begin to write a plan for managing invasives.
The grant was written because of Eurasian Milfoil (a highly invasive non-native aquatic plant). The report says, "Left unchecked Eurasian Milfoil can clog waterways, undermine the natural balance and cause problems for many types of recreation."
The survey found that Heart Lake has a hybrid milfoil and explains why this may have happened. The report also noticed the diversity of native plants has decreased with one species (Hornwart) becoming the dominant plant in many areas of the lake. Ms. Joy Michaud from Herrera Environmental Consultants will be on hand on December 7th to explain the report and answer questions about it.
This is the first of two planned educational meetings on Heart Lake; the next is scheduled to take place in January. The goal of these meetings is to help community members understand some of the problems at Heart Lake. At the January meeting the city hopes to host representative from other lake districts to discuss how they have decided to manage milfoil.
After these meetings the city will commence writing a plan for the Department of Ecology. The plan is called an Integrated Aquatic Vegetation Management Plan and it is necessary to complete one before applying to Ecology for funds to manage or eradicate milfoil. The city hopes to complete our plan this summer so they can apply for other funding in the fall of 2011.