Area towns win state AIS grants despite shortfall

By Kurt Krueger
News-Review Editor

Little St. Germain, Long among the funded lakes

State grants will aid the battle against aquatic invasive species (AIS) in the towns of St. Germain, Phelps, Land O’ Lakes, Presque Isle and Three Lakes, but more than $700,000 in projects were not funded in the August cycle, an official said.

Kevin Gauthier, lake management specialist with the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), said St. Germain did well with nine planning grants totaling $67,332 and a management grant for Little St. Germain Lake totaling $101,044.

The Long Lake of Phelps Lake District won a $69,710 grant for the second phase of its project to control Eurasian water milfoil (EWM), which at one point had infested about 100 acres.

Other control grants were received for Enterprise Lake in Langlade County ($62,775) and Lake Ellwood in Florence County ($57,347), and the total for all projects statewide came to $568,423.

But more than $700,000 in applications were not funded — including $200,000 for the Eagle River Unified Lower Chain of Lakes Commission.

Gauthier said he was surprised that the shortfall in the October cycle wasn’t higher, considering that 19 projects totaling $1.5 million didn’t get funded in the February 2009 cycle.

“I can’t explain where all those projects went, but a lot of them were not resubmitted for this cycle,” he said. “All of the projects in my area that weren’t funded came back.”

It is expected that the Eagle River Chain project will be resubmitted for the February 2010 grant cycle, though it will have to compete for limited funding in what has been the busiest cycle for applications.

Gauthier said about $2 million in control grant funding will be available in February, about half of the two-year budget allotment.

“There are some big projects in this area that are unfunded at this point, including the Eagle River Chain, Big Sand and North/South Twin,” said Gauthier. “I will be working with each of these groups to talk about and build up the projects so they rank higher in February.”

He said the ranking criteria changed when the state approved a permanent rule for the AIS grants last year.

“One change in the ranking was that projects could win extra points if they asked for 50% state funding instead of 75% funding,” said Gauthier. “All four of the area control projects that got funding in this cycle asked for 50%.”

The Eagle River Chain group is hoping to again treat more than 200 acres of Eurasian water milfoil (EWM) after treating some 290 acres in the spring of 2008. The commission is comprised of the towns of Cloverland, Lincoln and Washington, and the city of Eagle River.

The largest of the education, prevention and planning grants awarded in the North Woods went to the town of Presque Isle. The $100,000 grant will allow the town to conduct vegetation surveys, devise plans and do Clean Boats Clean Waters prevention work on 14 lakes.

“They are even thinking about reaching into Michigan to do some public awareness work, because they fear invasives could come from there just as easily as Wisconsin,” said Gauthier.

Also on the planning and prevention side, the Big Portage Lake Riparian Owners Association in Land O’ Lakes received grants of $10,000 and $8,773 for a two-phase effort to study the lake and create a protection plan.

In Oneida County, the Three Lakes Waterfront Association won a $10,000 grant to complete vegetation studies on both sides of the Burnt Rollways Dam, which separates the Three Lakes Chain and Eagle River Chain with a boat lift.

Gauthier said the town of Three Lakes never got close to invoking its new channel closure ordinance because spring EWM treatment in the Long Lake channel went well.

“It was so effective that the lake association didn’t even bring the town committee out to look at it, to see if a summer treatment project was necessary,” said Gauthier. “But I haven’t seen the science on it yet to see where the 12-acre infestation is at.”

Gauthier said the grant for the control project on Long Lake in Phelps will cover the last two years of an ongoing treatment plan.

“The milfoil was treated last spring using liquid 2-4,D as an experiment near the Deerskin River dam, and granules were used on the rest of the project,” he said.

The Lac Vieux Desert Lake Association won a small $5,275 planning grant for data analysis and management, closing out a project that involved a 2-acre infestation that was discovered in 2008.

“Lac Vieux Desert received an early response grant and did a midsummer treatment on a fairly small patch on the Wisconsin side, I believe in Muskie Bay,” said Gauthier.

He said a $20,000 grant approved in February 2009 had a couple of treatment seasons built into it. He said a volunteer found the small infestation.

“It’s really tricky out there because Lac Vieux Desert has a lot of native northern milfoil,” he said. “Even the experts are having problems telling the two apart, so much that we’ve had to do DNA analysis. It’s even more of a problem when the two hybridize, but we treat the hybrid plants just like Eurasian.”

Gauthier said the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission did a survey of its own on Lac Vieux Desert, as did the DNR.

“The only spot we found it was around the original area where the volunteer detected it,” he said. “In the future, we’ll have to deal with the border water issue. But on this project, we were just dealing with Wisconsin waters.”

St. Germain details

The town of St. Germain won management planning grants for prevention work on Big St. Germain, Alma, Moon, Found, Fawn and Lost lakes, as well as Lake Content.

The town also won grants for stakeholder participation efforts and AIS education, totaling more than $15,500.

“On planning grants, we received 23 applications and 21 were funded,” said Gauthier.

The Little St. Germain Protection and Rehabilitation District was awarded a $101,044 grant for control efforts on both EWM and curlyleaf pondweed.

“Little Saint had received partial funding in February, the first year of a four-year project, but this should take them through the remaining three years,” said Gauthier.