by Johnathan J.

Gerstenberger

The Sanders County Aquatic Plants Task Force, a county-appointed board formed in 2008, recently held a public meeting to discuss the harvesting, disposal and prevention of Eurasian watermilfoil in Sanders County. The task force monitors and assesses conditions related to aquatic invasive plants in Sanders County waterways, specifically in the Noxon and Cabinet Gorge reservoirs, and develops and implements strategies to manage those populations for the health of the aquatic resource.

In the beginning, the task force considered eradicating the plant from local waters, which is very difficult to do given that the invasive species spreads quickly and with a considerable amount of ease when compared to our own two native watermilfoil species – both Shortspike and Whorl-Leaf watermilfoil.

"Dispersal occurs primarily by stem fragments and root crown buds. Plants are easily broken by wave action and recreational equipment," according to the Montana.gov Field Guides website. "In addition, axillary buds easily break off to form new plants. The native watermilfoil species lack buds that easily detach."

"Fragmentation is the biggest way that it spreads. We had to kind of go back to the drawing board and look at what we have accomplished because eradication is dead," said Kim McMahon, principal investigator with Pinnacle Research and Consulting out of Plains. McMahon and company are facilitating the task force. "She keeps us in line," this was said with a smile by Green Mountain Conservation District Supervisor Terry Hightower.

The current plan is to use a harvesting machine to collect the invasive plant and then dispose of it.

"So part of the process of using a mechanical harvester is that we have to pull the plant out of the water, and then we have to dispose of it somewhere on shore, so we've been working with the county to potentially dispose of it at the county landfill right there between the Trout Creek and North Shore boat launch sites," said McMahon. "There is also a Montana Department of Transportation or (MDT) disposal site that is about a mile in the opposite direction that's an established burn pile that we may try to utilize. That way we can put it in that pile, dry it out and then burn it, as opposed to the county having to then transfer it to a solid waste disposal container in order to haul it to missoula and dump it."

"Our representative with the MSU Extension will also be checking to see if anyone would be interested in mulching it or composting it," said Hightower.

"If anyone wants to be there to load it into their own trailer, nobody will complain," said McMahon.

"The areas we are not treating are expanding and getting bigger, our goal is to try to cut the spread down so we can keep the access ways, boat launches and docks clear, where as these little bays that have a low rate of usage wont be treated because we just don't have the funding for all of it," she added.

More information on meeting times and locations can be found on the Sanders county website at co.sanders.mt.us in the section titled "Events." Look for or Aquatic Invasive Species Task Force meetings. For more specific information, contact McMahon with Pinnacle Research and Consulting by email at [email protected] or by phone at (406)-546-2447.