The Lake Leelanau Lake Association (LLLA) is doubling down in its battle to stop the spread of Eurasian milfoil.
“This year we’re operating at full speed,” said LLLA board president Nancy Popa. “We have doubled our dive team so we now have six divers. We have five spots in the lake that we have managed. We feel very optimistic that those spots will remain in a closed state.”
The lake association has been employing a self-developed technique to kill milfoil, which can grow into thick mats that impede boat traffic and curtail fishing. It has been spreading 20-foot by 100-foot mats of burlap onto the lake bottom where heavy infestations occur. The burlap is bio-degradable, but before breaking down it deprives milfoil of sunlight, which kills the invasive plant.
The divers also deploy smaller burlap mats, perhaps fourfoot or five-food square, on smaller infestations. Previously, single plants were removed by hand but time has shown that they quickly grow back through roots and fragments left behind., The lake association is turning its attention to a large infected area located at the midway point of south Lake Leelanau near the east shore containing milfoil. It’s the last known untreated major infestation in the lake.
Popa thanked a riparian owner on south Lake Leelanau who is allowing the lake association to dock three boats, and store two compressor units bought to fill diver air tanks and trailers with pea gravel used to secure burlap on the lake bottom.
