Hey MN Fisher and other Minnesotans.

Just saw a story on our local news regarding hand removal of grasses/weeds from Minnetonka. Out here it’s usually done with herbicides and this appears to be a much safer way for both wildlife and humans. Has it been effective? Is it a lake wide operation or is it restricted to home owners and businesses on the lake who pay private individuals to do the work?

 

Joe

47 minutes ago, 5/0 said:

Hey MN Fisher and other Minnesotans.

Just saw a story on our local news regarding hand removal of grasses/weeds from Minnetonka. Out here it’s usually done with herbicides and this appears to be a much safer way for both wildlife and humans. Has it been effective? Is it a lake wide operation or is it restricted to home owners and businesses on the lake who pay private individuals to do the work?

 

Joe

Three harvesting barges are worked by the Lake Minnetonka Conservation District - a group governed by reps from the bordering towns. They work public shorelines and contracted areas on the entire lake. Harvested milfoil is taken to composting sites in the area.

"The Lake Minnetonka Conservation District (LMCD) is governed by a voluntary Board of Directors composed of one member appointed by the City Councils of the 14 municipalities that border Lake Minnetonka." http://ci.shorewood.mn.us/government/boards_and_commissions/lake_minnetonka_conservation_district.php

LMCD's homepage - https://lmcd.org/

 

There's also private firms, licensed by the DNR, who do manual harvesting. One guy does private docks and businesses literally by hand...he goes down in SCUBA gear and pulls them root-and-stem by the arm full.

 

People and businesses on the lake are also able to apply for permits to use approved chemical treatments.

 

All weed removal activities must be approved by the LMCD or MNDNR and certain restrictions are in effect.

https://lmcd.org/lake-shore-owners/managing-lake-vegetation/

 

Effective?

Well, they're keeping up with growth, but they haven't gained much ground

Sounds like a good program.

One issue they have with harvesters on the private lakes they use them on here is killing fish. The fish dive into the weeds to hide and they get picked up in the weeds and the whole mess gets hauled out. My buddy rode on the one on his lake on day and said he saw tons of sunfish, bass, and crappie that got hauled out in the weeds. Fish from fry sized to a couple pounds. Obviously, not as big an issue on a huge lake like Minnetonka, but on their less than 200 acre lake, a bit bigger problem as fish numbers have dropped drastically since they bought that harvester. 

One thing to note - overuse of certain herbicides can lead to resistance.

 

"3. Repeated use of herbicides with the same mode of action can lead to herbicide-resistance.
Certain hybrid Eurasian watermilfoil genotypes have been documented as resistant. Lake
Minnetonka has seven hybrids currently documented."

https://lmcd.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Item-1a-WS-LakeVegetationAISManagementPlan_06_18_2020-FINALREV-PRINTABLE.pdf (Page 3-5)

Oh I thought you meant graaaassss maaaan cuz I could use the extra work!

On 7/25/2021 at 6:02 PM, 5/0 said:

Hey MN Fisher and other Minnesotans.

Just saw a story on our local news regarding hand removal of grasses/weeds from Minnetonka. Out here it’s usually done with herbicides and this appears to be a much safer way for both wildlife and humans. Has it been effective? Is it a lake wide operation or is it restricted to home owners and businesses on the lake who pay private individuals to do the work?

 

Joe

Well it depends, effective for what purpose? If the purpose is to get it removed, it can be effective but not as effective as chemicals, If you are asking what is the effectiveness of harvesting it, it's very effective to be used in gardens after being composted and is rich in many nutrients,  if the lake drops alot in the summer from drought (which happens in socal) I will always try to shovel a black bag of this decomposed plant material in a trash bag because it's really good for gardens.