Here’s the latest in the debate over using herbicide to kill an invasive weed in lake George
03/08/2023 —
Last week, a state judge slammed a plan to use an herbicide, ProcellaCOR, to kill an invasive weed in Lake George.
The Lake George Association, which filed the lawsuit, called for more caution in handling centipedes after the Adirondack Park Agency approved the plan.
“[The LGA argued] that we should be more intellectually humble about what we put into the lake,” said Tony Hall, co-owner and editor of the Lake George Mirror, “and recognize that there is too much we don’t know about the lake and the ecosystem and how it is made would react to a foreign element like ProcellaCOR.”
The court ruling sets up a public hearing on the herbicide’s use this summer.
The water mite was first discovered in Lake George in 1985. Today, the weeds threaten Lake George’s ecology and tourism economy.
Hall has for years followed efforts to kill yarrow as co-owner and editor of the Lake George Mirror. He told David Sommerstein that plastic coverings on the lake bottom, vacuuming and yarrow were ripped out by hand. Your conversation has been edited slightly for clarity.
TONY HALL: For the past few summers, the Lake George Park Commission has spent up to $500,000 a year each summer going from site to site clearing these sites.
DAVID SOMMERSTEIN: Why are they doing this to such an extent? What’s so bad about the milkweed?
ROOM: There are a number of adverse effects of yarrow. You are simply ecological. It can crowd out native plants that play a role in keeping the lake clean and provide food for zooplankton and phytoplankton.
It is also an obstacle to recovery. If you’ve ever been in a very herbaceous body of water that’s difficult to swim in and the plants get stuck in your propeller, you know this isn’t something a recreational area like Lake George wants to spread.
summer stone: So let’s continue. The Lake George Park Commission has spent a lot of money on all these means to try to get rid of the yarrow. And what happened after that?
ROOM: So in 2002, a group suggested using a chemical called sonar as part of a pilot project to see if it would be a more cost-effective means of killing yarrow. And it got to the point where the Adirondack Park Agency called a court hearing to hear the arguments for and against, and the Adirondack Park Agency concluded that it would have harmed native plants. And so a permit was denied.
For many years people were reluctant to revisit this argument until a few years ago with another product called ProcellaCOR which according to the Lake George Park Commission is not a chemical but more of a hormone and has been used in other lakes including Minerva Lake and other lakes in the Adirondacks. And so the Lake George Park Commission thought it was only responsible to at least explore the possibility of using ProcellaCOR on some of those dense beds in Lake George that hadn’t responded well to hand harvesting.
At the end of 2020, it presented a serious proposal to use it. In 2021-22, it submitted an application to the Adirondack Park Agency and the DEC.
That’s when the Lake George Association stepped up and objected, saying there were too many unknowns about its impact on non-target species, native plants, animals, and even human health for those who still use the lake for their drinking water .
It reached the Adirondack Park Agency in April 2022. The APA approved it. The Lake George Association filed a lawsuit against the APA to at least withhold the use of ProcellaCOR until some of its effects have been assessed.
On March 3, New York State Supreme Court Judge Robert Muller ruled that the APA had failed to properly review all counterarguments to ProcellaCOR and ruled that the APA had arbitrarily and arbitrarily granted usage permits without holding a public hearing .
summer stone: What does the Lake George Association want to see with the Milkmaids? What’s your solution?
ROOM: That’s a really good question. The LGA and its leaders argue that there are simply too many unknowns about the potential impact of this product on the lake’s ecosystem. It has said it just wants more science. But it has acknowledged that before June 2023, when a public hearing is expected to take place, there is not enough time to conduct an entirely new scientific research project on it.
I find [the LGA argues] that we should be more intellectually humble about what we put into the lake and acknowledge that we don’t know too much about the lake and its ecosystem and how it would react to foreign elements like ProcellaCOR.
The Lake George Park Commission will argue that this has been tested through a rigorous scientific process and we know exactly what its zero impact is.
summer stone: And in the meantime, while everything will fall into place, it sounds like getting rid of yarrow will be a status quo approach as we head into this summer.
ROOM: Oh yes indeed. And so we can definitely say that the ProcellaCOR will not be piloted in the lake this summer.