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By Dan Mishler, LCA 1st VP and Environmental Committee Chair
We are happy to report that our third year of phragmites treatment was completed on Oct. 3. The two-person team from Cardno JFNew, the same firm that did our work last year, spent September 27th and 28th as well as October 3rd on our shoreline. Luckily it stayed warm through that time, so that the plants still seemed active. We’re expecting a high kill rate once again.
This was the third year of our planned three-year program for
hiring professionals to help us keep our phragmites at bay
(or is it “out of the bay”. Sorry couldn’t resist). As we go into
2012, we will be considering other options for treatment.
Several issues will enter into our decision and we will very likely be gathering input from our volunteers before a decision is made. A few of these issues follow.
1. Our bill for the treatment this year was almost as much as it was the first year, even though we have so much less to treat.
2. In many areas just a few plants have survived here and there, so it may not make sense to hire pros to walk all of that. (Possible solution – Have volunteers treat the small patches while they are doing the survey and perhaps hire pros to do only a few of the larger stands.)
3. Our original fund from donations will be down to about $7,000 heading into next summer and treatment costs have been between $9,000 and $10,000, so if we go pro again, funding will have to be addressed
It was always our plan, over the term of the program, to move towards volunteers and homeowners taking care of phragmites. An education program and support for “in-house” treatment was our planned next step. We will likely move in that direction for 2012 pending input from our surveyors and other volunteers.
Overall we are very pleased with the success of the Phragmites Treatment Program and are looking forward to seeing more and more native vegetation in place of those massive phragmites stands that were taking over so many locations when we started. We have to stay after it though!!
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