In May 2016 the Friends Lake Property Owners Association Board proposed to the Town of Chester the formation of a special district to control invasive species in Friends Lake. The proposal lists our reasoning as well as an outline on how the district might operate.
At the 2015 FLPOA annual meeting a vote was held and approved to pursue the establishment of Aquatic Plant Control District (APCD). The Town of Chester Board subsequently requested the FLPOA to conduct a survey of all Friends Lake rights holders, members and non-members to determine if a majority favored the creation of such a district. In December 2015 a majority vote was attained and since then the association has been working with the town to establish the district.
As of January 2018 everything is in place for establishing the district with the exception of a limited access easement. We had proposed establishing a rotating lake access plan and six owners informally agreed to this plan. However the Town Board, on the advice of Town Council, is requiring a recorded limited access easement to ensure that the purposes of the District can be fulfilled.
There is one owner who may be willing to grant the limited access easement if another owner or two will step forward as well. Access pursuant to the proposed easement will be for the sole purpose of surveying the lake for the existence of invasive species and for their abatement if they are found. We still intend to follow the rotating access plan.
Our lake has a long history of many property owners all around the lake allowing access for its overall good: plant surveys, water quality, septic testing, etc. Our intent is to continue this tradition by maintaining a rotating list of properties such that access instances will be shared by several homeowners or associations. Remediation, if necessary, would be scheduled well in advance and during specific times only to allow a boat to be launched by the remediation professionals.
Friends Lake Aquatic Plant Control District – May 2017
1 PURPOSE
A majority of the property owners who have lake front property or rights to access the lake seek to have the Town of Chester establish an Aquatic Plant Control District under Article 12-A Section 209 of the Town Law to provide funding for the prevention and control of invasive species if they are detected in Friends Lake. Principally, this funding would allow the District to undertake prompt and aggressive action once these species are detected. By establishing a District before the detection of an invasive species, a reserve would be developed over the first 2 years which would be employed in this effort to react aggressively to minimize harm and control costs if invasive species are discovered. Included in this effort to prevent, mitigate and control, the District also would conduct lake assessments, water quality testing, volunteer aquatic vegetation surveys, and contracted aquatic plant surveys, as well as other activities to promote the health of the Lake and reduce the threat of invasive species introduction. Also, anticipated are continuing education and additional efforts to inform lakefront and lake access owners concerning invasive species and pollutants.
A review of the literature on invasive species indicates that the complete removal of existing milfoil or other invasive species in other lakes and rivers has not occurred. In fact, the literature no longer mentions eradication but does discuss efforts to control. However, there is ample evidence indicating that a prompt and aggressive control program will be effective in mitigating the spread and reducing the long term costs of invasive species once they have been detected.
2 INTRODUCTION
Friends Lake is a 454 acre, class AA Special Lake located in the southeastern Adirondack region in the Town of Chester in Warren County, New York. A Class AA Special Lake under the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Lake Classification and Inventory Program means that the best intended uses for the Lake are for potable water, swimming, angling, boating, aquatic life and aesthetics. The Lake is used by residents and invited guests for a variety of recreational purposes. Unlike many of its neighboring lakes, the Lake has no public access. The Lake Watershed Area is 1,440 hectares (3,556.8 acres) with a Retention Time of 0.9 years. Maximum Depth of the Lake is 9.1 meters and its Mean Depth is 4.2 meters. The Lake has an unnamed outlet at its north end to Chester Creek which continues to the Schroon River and on to the Hudson River.
Fish species in the Lake include brown bullhead, largemouth bass, northern pike, pumpkinseed sunfish, redbreast sunfish, rock bass, smallmouth bass, and yellow perch. The Lake is not stocked by the State, but the strength of its fisheries is best informed by the fact that the State’s record largemouth bass was caught here, a record which stood for many years and was just broken recently.
3 FRIENDS LAKE PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION
The Friends Lake Property Owners Association (FLPOA) is a 501 c (3) Not-for- Profit Corporation that was formed by property owners in 1954 with the purpose of protecting and preserving the beauty and health of Friends Lake. In keeping with its purpose, the FLPOA has been following the invasive species growth trend within many neighboring lakes for many years and has been actively involved in educating its members on the threat that invasive aquatic plants pose to the health of the lake. The Association has about 190 member owners representing about 55% of the total ownership of properties within the proposed district.
At the association’s annual meeting in July 2014 where the topic of invasive species was discussed, the membership requested the board to research various avenues available to fund the abatement of invasive species should they be detected in the lake. A report was presented at the annual meeting in July 2015 with the clear majority of the membership at the meeting indicating that the Board should pursue the formation of an aquatic plant control district.
4 AQUATIC PLANT SURVEYS
In addition aquatic plant surveys were conducted in 1996, 2001,2006 and 2016 by Lawrence Eichler, Marine Scientist, and the Darrin Freshwater Institute. In October, 2015, the lake was specifically surveyed for invasive species by Aquatic Invasive Management LLC (AIM).
The following are the major findings of the October 2015 AIM survey:
“We started the day surface spotting the perimeter of the lake, calm water made visibility good. We looked through all lily pad beds and shallow grassy areas specifically looking for water chestnut. None was observed. The shoreline is mostly sandy in the shallows and drops quickly in other places. There are isolated patches of bassweed in the coves and shallow points. Milfoil often will take hold in these areas with existing plant growth, preferably over rooting in sand. Curly-leaf pondweed was also looked for and is also receptive to surface spotting. Neither was found. Variable-leaf milfoil is another common invasive found and is harder to spot from the surface. The divers snorkeled select shallow areas that could harbor this plant while on their perimeter search. None was found. These plants (Eurasian Milfoil, Variable Leaf Milfoil, Curly leaf pond weed and Water Chestnut) are most commonly found and already exist in lakes around Friends Lake. While these plants were specifically looked for, the divers also kept an eye out for any other invasive known or other unknown plant growth. While more time may be spent in any one given area it appears that no current established population of invasive species exist. Continued monitoring and general awareness among the Friends Lake community is crucial to keeping unwanted plants and animals out of their lake. A lake survey on a 2 year or appropriate schedule would be a good preventative measure.”
5 INITIAL DISTRICT FORMATION ACTIVITIES
This is the founding document of the Friends Lake Aquatic Plant Control District and reflects the checks and balances needed to direct and enable the governance of the District. The FLPOA has had several discussions with Town leaders in an effort to craft a sustainable and financially viable structure to respond to the invasive species threat. During the course of these discussions both parties determined that the best possible recourse is to be proactive and to establish an Aquatic Plant Control District for Friends Lake. Town leaders set a condition for their formal consideration of the establishment of said District: the FLPOA needed to provide the Town with proof that there is sufficient support of the owners of both the majority of the assessed value of all properties as well as a majority of the properties that will be included within the proposed District.
In November, 2015 the Association corresponded with all owners of property within the proposed District, including members and non-members of the Association, and provided them with: information concerning the reasons for establishment of the District; answers to questions posed at Association’s annual meeting in July 2015 relating to the creation of a District; and a statement of support to be signed and returned to the Association. A Newsletter was also sent to all property owners within the proposed District in late April and early May 2016 providing further information about the proposed District and seeking their support in the efforts to have the District established.
6 PROPOSED DISTRICT BOUNDARIES
The proposed District encompasses the specific area surrounding the lake and those parcels within the Town that will be benefited by the formation of the District. The benefited parcels identified include both lakefront parcels and non-lakefront parcels that have deeded access rights to the Lake, all of which will benefit from the management of invasive aquatic plant species.
7 DISTRICT OPERATIONS
The Town Board will operate the District and be the governing body for the District as provided in statute. It is anticipated that The Town Board will enter into an agreement with the FLPOA, modeled on the one currently existing between the Town and The Loon Lake Park District Association, which is also a 501(c) 3 organization to provide for the day to day operation of the District. The duties enumerated in the agreement would include: providing recommendations on the Lake’s yearly management program, reviewing the water quality and aquatic vegetation surveys, monitoring treatment methods, managing projects as needed, developing an annual budget, reviewing necessary expenditures and such others as determined by the parties.
8 PLANS FOR THE CONTROL OF INVASIVES SPECIES
If or when the presence of an invasive species has been detected in the Lake, as the result of the annual volunteer survey, the discovery by a single property owner or the product of an annual contracted lake survey, the focus of the District will change from prevention to control. In anticipation of such an event the District, with the assistance of the FLPOA, has already developed a conceptual plan which will be annually reviewed as events unfold. The District will be required to prepare and file with the Adirondack Park Agency form 2015G-2 which is an application and certification for the management of aquatic invasive species. The application itself has certain requirements including mapping of the lake and a qualitative assessment of the lake which the District will have prepared in anticipation of the permitting process. The Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program does have a permit to allow a rapid response team to assess and address an early outbreak prior to the permit application. However, the very limited response provided does not constitute the effort required to control invasive species even when they are first detected.
Upon first discovery, the District will position buoys and other surface markers in an effort to discourage boat traffic which will stem the further proliferation of the plants. Simultaneously, it will promptly initiate the process to contract with a mitigation vendor to conduct an extensive survey and follow-up mitigation efforts. (The use of untrained hand harvesters will be precluded because there is strong evidence that such efforts tend to worsen the situation.) In addition to these efforts, the District will research additional methods of control and will commence the development of a permit application for herbicide treatments, if deemed appropriate.
After receiving bid proposals from the vendors, the Town in consultation with the District and the FLPOA will then select the appropriate vendor. In determining the selected vendor criteria such as general experience, training and expertise of the staff, recommendations from other clients, the Town’s experience with the vendor, if any, and cost will be used. Once the vendor has been selected by the Town the FLPOA, pursuant to the terms of the agreement with the Town, will supervise the day-to-day operation of the vendor as Project Manager. All invoices from the vendor will be reviewed by the FLPOA and upon review will be submitted to the Town for payment.
9 CONCLUSIONS
The formation of the Friends Lake Aquatic Plant Control District will provide the Town and property owners with a mechanism for long term prevention and, when appropriate, management and control of invasive species in Friends Lake. The formation of this district will allow the Town and the FLPOA to manage the lake’s health, maintain the current water quality and preserve the recreational and aesthetic values of the Lake. As indicated here, the Lake’s excellent health has been documented through many years. As stewards of this invaluable asset, the Town, all property owners within the district and the FLPOA, by establishing the District, will be providing a solid mechanism to preserve this wondrous natural resource so future generations may enjoy its unqualified beauty.