Boat Launch to Remain Closed Until Mid-July

Merrimack's boat launch at Veteran's Memorial Park will remain closed at least until July 18, allowing time for an assessment to be made by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services following aggressive treatment of variable milfoil that was discovered last July.

Keeping the lake closed until the board can hear from DES regarding a survey of the water being conducted later this month, will give DES the opportunity to take a look at the water and measure the success of the removal procedures before any sort of motorized boat has the opportunity to disturb any milfoil that may have survived treatment, and get a clearer picture of how treatment went.

On Thursday night, the Merrimack Town Council met with Parks and Recreation Commission member Laura Jaynes and Roger Gettel, of the Lake Naticook Conservation Association to discuss the milfoil treatment and a recommendation for when to re-open the boat launch to motorized boats

The boat launch has been closed to motorized boats since October in an effort to slow the spread of the invasive weed that grows and spreads rapidly when fragments of drift and re-root. Because motors can easily chop the weed, only non-motorized boats that can be carried into the lake have been allowed in the last seven months.

According to a Gettel, when the milfoil was discovered in July, about 5 acres of the lake was affected, however, by October, it had spread to about 20 acres of the lake, and thus the town council agreed with a recommendation from the Merrimack Parks and Recreation Commission to shut down the boat launch until something could be done to slow the spread.

Members of the Council said Thursday that the closure of the lake has been helpful for the first treatment, but it's time to get the lake re-opened.

Councilor Nancy Harrington thanked the groups keeping an eye on the problem for doing so, and Councilor Bill Boyd said it has been helpful, but it has gotten to the point where the lake needs to be open while treatment is ongoing, because it's unlikely the problem will ever completely go away.

Councilor Dan Dwyer, who advocated for the closure back in October, said if he'd known it was going to be this long, he may have been inclined to recommend against closure. The problem is, he said, is that there are always going to be people who don't pay attention to the fact that they are bringing the weed into the lake with them, or dragging their propellors right through a patch of milfoil.

“You can't legislate or close things for knuckleheads,” Dwyer said.

Because the lake is fairly shallow, Jaynes said this plant very quickly took over. It grows through the winter, under the ice, and gets to about 6 or 8 feet tall pretty quickly when it grows about an inch a day.

According to Gettel, it appears the treatment of the plant has been very successful and at the moment it appears only one plant survived the treatment.

Given the nature of the beast, however, there may be fragments that survived and are rerooting, Gettel said.

As Gettel pointed out, even if the plant is eradicated, it can come back very easily, as it is frequently spread by boats that have been in other bodies of water and carry it over.

“Lots of people use multiple lakes and the weed travels, Gettel said.

Boyd cautioned the use of the word eradication, as the plant rarely is ever fully eradicated from a body of water.

“It's the gift that keeps on giving,” he said.

During the week of July 8, Amy Smagula, limnologist and exotic species program coordinator with NHDES, will be in town to survey of the lake and assess the treatment. Smagula has been working with the town regarding plant removal and education.

The Town Council's next meeting is July 18, and at that time, they are expected to authorize re-opening the boat launch for summer and fall use.

DES, which funded the first year of treatment of the lake, conducts surveys of lakes around New Hampshire as milfoil continues to plague water bodies and works with communities to set up plans for successful treatment to kill milfoil. In subsequent years, towns become responsible for cost of treatment, which can be aided with grant funding, but successful treatment of a lake the first time around can significantly help mitigate costs.

This is the second water body in Merrimack to become home to a milfoil infestation. Horseshoe Pond has a significant milfoil problem in need of attention. In fact, earlier in the evening during the Council's July 27 meeting, several residents on Horseshoe Pond spoke against a request from the town asking if members of the home owner association there would be interested in contributing to a fund to help clean up that water body.

There was a general consensus that the spread of milfoil is less related to the people who live on the pond than it was the people who bring their boats to visit it. The agenda item for the milfoil problem at Horseshoe Pond, was table to a future date at the beginning of the meeting, but Town Council Chairman Finlay Rothhaus invited the members of the public there to speak about it to do so during public comment since they'd come to the meeting.

On Naticook, a weed watchers group of 14 volunteers has been established to keep an eye on the weed, and the town could consider applying for a Lake Host grant to get someone to staff the boat launch to educate people entering the water and check for signs a boat could be carrying more milfoil into the lake.

For more on the presentation regarding the milfoil in Lake Naticook, check out the slideshow presented to the Council, which contains further information about treatment plans.