Pickerel Cove milfoil plan

[Descant]

Originally Posted by tis

They say it doesn't kill the fish etc. but people cannot drink the water for a month and can't swim for 24 hours after treatment.

I'm curious about the source for those statements, Tis. I was a non-professional member of the Exotic Aquatic Weeds and Species Committee with DES, Agriculture, and other professionals and I never heard these numbers. Much testing over many years EPA, agriculture, etc showed that 2-4D, professionally applied, was safe. Usually, three days was the time to not drink, but lab testing samples showed no residue in much shorter times. In an abundance of caution, to coin a phrase, The Dept of Agriculture would not issue permits for treatments anyplace there was even a remote hint of a detectable level. There is a new treatment called Perchloricide (sp?) which appears to require even less quantity to be effective. Nevertheless, first line of defense is prevention (Clean Drain, Dry), early detection , hand pulling by a trained certified diver (Diver Assisted Suction Harvesting, or DASH) and then other approaches which might include chemicals. "Cut and harvest" has not been used for probably 40 years as it broke milfoil into small pieces that drifted and reestablished itself in new locations.
In the past individuals have obtained and spread chemicals themselves, then flushed the area with their boat propeller. Dangerous in my book, but no way to study and evaluate rogue applications. Again, over many years, there appears to be no negative impact on native wildlife, fish or plants.