Tuesday October 24, 2000 Meeting Synopsis

The meeting was called to order by Chairman Jim Deamud at 7:00 PM in the Denton Township Meeting Hall.

Present were Jim Deamud, Dick Pastula, Sheridan Cole, Carl Geiger, Verle Wetherwax, Diana Klemans and Charles Van Duser Absent was Jay Sandow

An attendance sheet was circulated and 49 members of the public were recorded as present.

The minutes of the September 26^th meeting were forwarded to all members prior to the meeting. The Chairman asked if there was a desire on the part of the Board to have the minutes read or if any additions or corrections were needed. Moved by Wetherwax and seconded by Van Duser that the minutes be approved as presented. Motion carried.

The following agenda was presented

Old Business - Technical Advisor

Discussion of Control Methods

New Business - Board comment and Public comment

Secretary’s letter to Denton Twp/ HLIB’s treasurer

regarding checking account for approval.

The chairman asked for additions. Carl Geiger requested the addition of a discussion on the Army Corps of Engineers involvement with the project.

Introductions of some of the presenters and guests followed. They were Joe Bondra of Cygnet Enterprises, Dr. Craig Smith of Professional Lake Management, Marty Hilovsky of EnviroScience and Dr. Kurt Getsinger of the Army Corps of Engineers research station in Miss. Also introduced were board member Diana Klemans of DEQ and Tom Rozich from DNR Fisheries office in Cadillac.

Dr. Doug Pullman of Aquest Corp. in Flint has provided technical assistance to the former board and is currently assisting the current board. The Chairman presented to all members a written proposal from Dr. Pullman to continue to provide technical assistance to the board and solicited a motion to accept. The motion to accept was made and seconded. Discussion followed. Question was raised as to the number of Tech Advisor proposals that had been received. The board was advised that Mr. James Delahanty of Lapham & Assoc. (who was in attendance) had made a proposal last year and he was asked to comment. Mr. Delahanty indicated that the proposal to the previous board was much more extensive and included volume and other studies. He sees his firms position as a supplier of data to Dr. Pullman.

Several members expressed the desire to reopen the technical advisor issue with more applicants. A move to table the current proposal and to request of DEQ a list of possible interested candidates for the advisory position. The move to table passed and the Chairman said with the help of Ms Klemans, we will identify additional candidates by our next meeting.

Chairman Deamud explained the process and identified the presenters for the informational session to follow. He stated that no decision has been made on how to approach solutions to the milfoil problem. What is to follow is an informational presentation to Board members and the public to better educate ourselves on the process that may be used, their advantages and disadvantages. He then introduced Dr. Craig Smith of Professional Lake Management located in Caledonia, MI.

Dr. Smith opened with a slide presentation that focused on the types of activities that his firm is involved in providing. which included vegetation mapping, dredging feasibility studies, watershed studies , operating herbicide application rids, MiddFoil (weevils) application and all the planning and monitoring necessary for lake management.

Dr. Smith then addressed the question of why we need a Lake Manager and a Lake Management Plan. His position was that the firm or person will keep the project moving. A lake manager will help to identify roadblock and provide the suggestions for their resolution. The plan speaks to what the community wants to accomplish.

He stated that the Lake Management Plan normally contains volume studies and vegetation maps which are part of the planning process. A firm cannot bid on a project without that info. The prior committee asked for bids without providing this usual base info. Any firm must have this data in order to provide a bid. He suggested that certain events must happen sequentially, first the plan, then the process. He also suggested that the hydraulic residence time (time the water is in the lake) must be determined before an accurate determination of the ideal process for the removal of the milfoil. Dr. Smith also addressed some of the rumors regarding the number and cost of using weevils in the lake. He stated that the 10 million weevil number that was reported to him is a gross exaggeration of what would be necessary.

What we need is a detailed management plan which lay out the various feasible alternatives. He suggested that at Houghton Lake there are several choices available to us and what we need is a plan which lay out the choices, their advantages and disadvantages and their cost. The three options he felt would be viable in Houghton Lake were (1) Chemical, most likely Fluridone whose advantages are a quick kill of the target vegetation, low failure rate and high experience level in application. The disadvantages being little budget flexibility, expensive, difficulty in permit process and the need to retreat in 3 to 6 years. The second option is use of the MiddFoil process which is relatively cheap, budget flexibility, permitting easy, extremely specific to the target plant, however unknown failure rate or at least a higher failure rate than with chemicals and the process is much slower. The third option he suggested was a combination of (1) chemical and (2) MiddFoil - weevils.

The second presenter was Martin Hilovsky of EnviroScience, the principal supplier of weevils to Lake St. Helen. He reviewed the history of the weevil as a milfoil control agent. The weevil spends its entire life cycle under water except once a year the adult comes out of the water and flies to the shore and usually burrows into the land at lake side. In the spring it will migrate back into the lake. It is native to North America and historically has fed on native milfoil, but given a choice, it will attack the Eurasian milfoil. The weevil is no larger than a sesame seed. The larva stage of the weevil life cycle does the damage.

Three or four generations will develop in a season. One female will lay about two eggs a day through out the season. One weevil could develop in excess of 200 weevils in a season as long at they have a food supply. Without the food supply, they will die out.

After over 10 years of research at Middlebury College in Vermont, the process was spun off and is currently being implemented by EnviroScience. The firm started treating lakes in 1998 with the Middlebury College, MiddFoil weevil process and currently have 21 lakes in process of being treated. He stated that other firms have not had the success that his firm has and assumed that a major factor was the quantity of weevils in a block. He suggested that 1,000 weevils currently seem to be sufficient to allow for growth and reproduction and that lakes with all or mostly seawall shore line seem to be working well. The weevil will not eradicate the Eurasian milfoil from the lake, but it will reduce it substantially.

After a short break Chairman Deamud introduced Dr. Kurt Getsinger, Team Leader of the Chemical Control Unit at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Water Way Experiment Station in Vicksburg Mississippi. Dr. Getsinger, having worked will all types of chemicals presented information on most of the chemicals that could be used in the lake. Dr. Getsinger detailed the process the Corps uses to test various chemicals on a variety of aquatic nuisance plans. Dr. Getsinger stated that both contact and systemic herbicides have been shown to be safe and effective in controlling milfoil if used in accordance with the product labeling approved by the Federal Environment Protection Agency. The product most commonly use is a Fluridone type product, also known as Sonar. However, Diquat dibromide , 2-4-D products and Glyphosate have also been successful in treating Eurasian milfoil.

At the completion of Dr. Getsinger’s presentation the Chair opened the meeting to questions from the board and the general public.

A question was raised regarding federal funds. Chairman Deamud reviewed the federal funding cycle and when assistance may be available. Carl Geiger indicated that in a conversation with the Detroit office of the Corps he had this day, they are still interested in assisting us in the formulation of a plan.

Treasurers report is that all four township have now contributed $250. each to our fund. It was moved and seconded to approve the draft letter to Carolyn Pietchak on the handling of Board Funds.

Carl Geiger reiterated the desire to request applicants for the position of technical advisor to the board. Chairman Deamud indicated that Diana Klemans will forward to Dick Pastula a list of candidates and we will move on this issue immediately.

No further business to be conducted, the meeting was adjourned at 10:15