A Lake Garfield Update

At the 2022 annual town meeting on May 7, Monterey voters approved Article 29 which appropriated the sum of $50,000 to hire a certified lake scientist, and increased funding to help control the growth of invasive Eurasian watermilfoil (EWM) in Lake Garfield. Over the past several years, a lake scientist has surveyed the presence of EWM and certified scuba divers were then hired to pull these aquatically rooted plants from the lake bottom. The approach did help to control the growth of the plants to an extent, but warmer summer temperatures have contributed to the need for additional techniques to deal with the problem.
So, this summer the effort to control these nuisance weeds is being expanded by using a mechanical harvester to cut the tops off the elongated EWM stems, and movable bottom fabric barriers to cover the weeds and essentially limit their growth by reducing the amount of sunlight the plants recieve to grow. With prior regulatory approval, both of these two additional methods, when combined with hand pulling by divers, should help to provide a more effective approach to control plant growth in Lake Garfield.
In a further effort to both monitor and help to sustain the health of Lake Garfield, the Friends of Lake Garfield have provided continued private funding to hire a biologist to collect seasonal water samples and identify the abundance and distribution of so-called cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, that grow in freshwater lakes, including Lake Garfield. These potentially toxic microscopic plants may go through rapid growth cycles called “blooms” depending on the amount of nutrients carried by stormwater, rainfall amounts, and temperatures in the water column during the summer season. If a bloom begins to occur, regulatory agencies are notified and immediate action is taken to alert and protect the public.
Additionally, Monterey received federal funding last fall through a state grant to use best management techniques to reduce the amount of nutrients in stormwater from flowing into Lake Garfield. Nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrates are needed by EWM and other nuisance weeds as well as by blue-green algae to survive and grow in the freshwater lakes and streams. As part of a robust public information program, updates concerning this grant-funded project will be provided in future issues of the Monterey News.
It is also important to note that both the Monterey Lake Garfield Working Group and the Friends of Lake Garfield have played a major role in informing and working with the select board to monitor and improve the health of Lake Garfield.
Stay tuned and have a great summer season on Lake Garfield. — Dennis Lynch Monterey Grant Writer