LPLA Aquatic Invasive Species Plan

WHY LPLA IS FIGHTING EWM

Eurasian Aquatic Milfoil is an invasive species that has entered many lakes in Michigan and caused severe problems. Little Platte Lake currently has about 6 (as of 2017; in 2024: fourteen) acres of this plant.

What are the potential problems this can cause as it grows in our lake?

• Because we have a shallow lake, invasive milfoil can spread across a much wider area than in deeper lakes.

• We currently have a very diverse native population of aquatic plants, but widely spread milfoil could cause us to lose many of these native species.

• Invasive milfoil can grow so thick that it becomes almost impossible to swim, boat or engage in other activities in the water where it is growing.

• Little Platte Lake is known as an excellent fishing lake. Widely spread invasive milfoil will reduce the fish populations, as well as limiting the places in which fishing can be done.

• We cannot reduce our milfoil through pulling or chopping it out, as this will cause further spreading of the plant.

• The extensive expansion of invasive milfoil in our lake will have a significant negative effect on the value of our lakefront properties.

WHAT IS OUR ACTION PLAN?

After the preliminary survey from the Northwest Michigan Invasive Species Network (was) discussed at our June (2017) Annual Members Meeting, we hired Restorative Lake Sciences, LLC to do a comprehensive survey to show the amount and exact location of the invasive milfoil in our lake.

Based on that survey and recommendations from Restorative Lake Sciences we intend to seek bids for herbicide treatment of the invasive milfoil in the spring or early summer of 2018. The use of herbicides was determined appropriate after careful consideration of the characteristics of our lake and evaluation of other treatment methods.

Restorative Lake Sciences does not believe that the use of herbicides in the amounts necessary for treatment of invasive milfoil on our lake will be harmful to other plants, animals or people.

The cost in 2018 of treatment and ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of the treatment and consideration of necessary future actions will be approximately $9,500 to $10,500. We will be exploring and considering various possible sources of funding for these activities, including grants from governmental and private entities, fundraising activities, contributions from property owners and businesses along our lake and use of existing cash reserves.

We will provide further information as are plans are more fully developed. Invasive milfoil, like other invasive plants, are primarily introduced into lakes through movement of boats, including pontoons, fishing boats, canoes and kayaks, from one lake to another without draining and washing those boats. We will be putting into place signage and conducting educational activities about this and will also consider installing washing facilities at some point in the future. 

2017 LPLA Meeting Minutes (snippet)

"Emily Cook spoke to the association regarding the health of our lake in relation to invasive species. A team from NMISN kayaked our lake earlier this week to identify and map areas with various invasive species. She passed out copies of the map depicting where non-native invasive species were observed along the shoreline. It was noted that the swamp area showed nothing invasive. Emily explained one reason might have been that it was too shallow to kayak and stated that a couple of lakes had recently used drones to help in similar situations. The good news is that our lake is fairly healthy as far as invasive species and that although Eurasian Water Milfoil was found, the clumps are not alarming in size. A few other invasive species spotted include Purple Loosestrife, Reed Canary Grass (near the boat launch), White Sweet Clover, Periwinkle and Autumn Olive. Books were available to explain and identify various types of invasive species. Emily was very informative and will work with us to formulate a plan to rid our lake of some of these invasive plants, especially the Milfoil. She suggested we also contact other lakes in the area that have been successful in removing invasive species." 

click here to download the original Plan