The treatment will begin on June 8 when Aquatic Control Technology of Sutton, MA will treat the entire bay with a chemical known as 2,4-D, a systematic herbicide. "The chemical will be embedded into clay-like pellets that will be spread from an airboat, using a rotary spreader." The pellets sink to the bottom where they are absorbed into the root of the milfoil plant. It is spread at a ratio of 100 pounds per acre. Too little or too much and it doesn't work properly. If too much is spread it burns the plant and is NOT taken up into the root and the plant responds
by rapidly increasing its growth rate and developing a resistance to the herbicide. The chemical works by interfering with the plant's photosynthetic process. The Crescent Lake dam will be closed to "make things pretty quiet in order to ensure good penetration." It was reported on (Lower) Suncook Lake (in Barnstead) that a native plant called Bladderwort, that looks like milfoil but doesn't have its' aggressive qualities, was seen shortly after treatment growing up through the dying milfoil plants. Ed Neister, Chairman of Barnstead's Suncook Lake Association's Milfoil Committee, said that the fish, bird, mussel and native plant populations were unharmed by the treatment. The mussels are thought to be the most sensitive animals in the lake environment. Neister reported that after treatment the mussels were "fat, dumb and happy. The treatment didn't bother them at all." No wells were affected. It generally takes water about two years to migrate to well sites and the 2,4-D breaks down within a month. The Back Bay project will cost about $10,000 of which $3,500 will be reimbursed by grants.
