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Fighting Milfoil with Black Plastic and Steel Rods

August 15, 2007 - Sumner -- On Shagg Pond, Jim Chandler, with the support of the Department of Environmental Protection, is engaged in a battle against milfoil.

For the last few months, Chandler has been supervising an activity that he hopes will smother the invasive aquatic plant that roots at the bottom of ponds and lakes, then grows thick and chokes out all other plants, destroying the habitat for aquatic animals.

Milfoil will only grow in depths up to 15 feet. Because it will not root and grow in deeper water, it can make accessing lakes and ponds difficult. Shagg Pond's milfoil grows out to depths of 12 feet. It forms dense tangles from the bottom to the surface of the water. Milfoil looks like a long bottle brush with a red spine and produces a spike like flower that grows above the water surface mid-to late summer.

Chandler's plan of attack is to cover the milfoil with 10 foot long and 40 foot wide six mil black plastic to block the light.

"In Casco, we are using 10 foot by 10 foot plastic mats and we've wiped out nearly half an acre," Chandler, who works for the community Lakes Association of Bryant Pond, said.

John McPhedran, biologist and coordinator of the state's invasive species program, helps roll out the plastic and lay narrow steel bars every 6 feet, attaching the bars to the plastic with plastic ties. Holes reinforced with clear duct tape in the plastic accept that ties. The holes also allow gas to escape.

"You need to two people to do this," Chandler said.

Some of the materials were purchased with DEP grants. For the Shagg Pond project, Chandler raised funds from the surrounding landowners, he said.

"I raise a little over $3000. That was enough with a little grant money to cover the cost of materials," said Chandler. "They have been helpful when they are in the area, most are weekenders. I've met a lot of neat people. There are about 40 different camps."

Chandler already has a half an acre of plastic underneath the water and Shagg Pond. He plans to cover an acre.

"In 60 days, at the end of September, we will pull out the mats and we should see large areas without milfoil," Chandler said.

Chandler and McPhedran carry the mats down to a boat. They place a 10 foot wide roll of plastic and steel across the back of the boat. Then Chandler puts on his wet suit, mask, flippers and tank. The roll is dropped down to him from the back of the boat, it sinks, and Chandler unrolls it underwater over the milfoil.

Through a plastic PVC tube with a clear plastic bottom, Chandler and McPhedran look beneath the surface of the water and could see the black plastic mats over the encroaching milfoil.

Chandler tells a visitor to the pond that the hornpout fishing will be good in areas outside of where he's been working.

"I've run into a lot of hornpout under the water here," said Chandler. "They'll have to find someplace else for a little while."

There may be impacts on the aquatic life and animals.

"Frankly, we don't know a lot about what the impacts are," McPhedran said. "Shagg Pond is approximately 64 acres and he's covering one acre. We know there will be effects, but in the big scheme of things, one acre out of 64 is a risk we are willing to take."

"Also it's not permanent," added Chandler. "And I had to get a permit from the state."

The mats covering the half-acre had been down for two weeks. This is Chandler's fourth time laying down mats. He puts down 15 mats each time, he said.

"We won't get all of it the first round," Chandler said. "But we are going to get a whole heck of a lot of it this time around."

In 2001 the state passed a bill establishing a boat sticker program to fund the fight against milfoil. "Maine has around 6000 lakes and we have 29 known infestations. We have a lot of protection and prevention and we are the envy of a lot of other states because we have relatively few lakes that are infested."

"Volunteers and paid people running inspection programs are doing a great job with boat inspections. Last year we had 40,000 boat inspections," continued McPhedran.

This article first appeared in the Advertiser Democrat, August 2, 2007.

Lakes: Shagg Pond
Regions: Sebago


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