The Adirondack Council

News Release

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Released, Friday, January 10, 2003

RAY BROOK, N.Y. -- The Adirondack Council praised the Adirondack Park Agency today for standing up to enormous political pressure and denying a permit to use a chemical herbicide to poison unwanted plants in Lake George.

The APA Board of Commissioners voted today to accept a recommendation from its staff, and a unanimous vote of its regulatory affairs committee. The Agency cited 16 specific reasons why it could not approve the project.

The permit applicant, the Lake George Park Commission, wanted to dump tons of the herbicide fluridone (brand name Sonar) into four bays on the 28,000-acre lake. The plan was aimed at killing the Eurasian Watermilfoil that has been introduced into the lake by boats and trailers coming from other infested waters. The four bays proposed for treatment were Paradise Bay, West Tongue Mountain Bay, Moonlight Bay and Sawmill Bay, all in the Town of Bolton.

"Essentially, the LGPC failed to show that there was a compelling social, economic or other benefit that would justify dumping chemical herbicide into the pure waters of Lake George," said Adirondack Council Executive Director Brian L. Houseal. "Despite weeks of testimony from their experts, the Lake George Park Commission didn't provide justification for a permit."

Houseal said the Council had several reasons for hiring an attorney and intervening in this case. First, the Council was concerned that fluridone has the potential to kill almost any green plant, not just milfoil. So the herbicide would kill the beneficial native plants that keep the lake clean, along with the unwanted non-native milfoil. Second, the lake serves as a drinking water supply for many lakeshore homes and businesses. Third, the Adirondack Park contains 2,800 lakes and ponds, and the Council was concerned about setting a precedent that would allow the use of the chemical throughout the Park.

In general, the Council wants to ensure that any exotic species removal plan is tailored to local conditions, and doesn't do more harm to aquatic life than good.

The Park Agency's staff recommended to the commissioners in November that they deny the permit request for 16 specific reasons. Among them were:

• The applicant failed to document the extent to which milfoil had harmed recreation, property values or native plant species and could not justify using a chemical herbicide.
  
  
• The applicant provided only anecdotal information about herbicide use on other lakes, but the record showed that those lakes are substantially different from Lake George.
  
  
• There was little evidence presented to show what would happen to 48 species of native plants if the chemical were applied, nor the impact on four rare and threatened species.
  
  
• There was no evidence presented to show that native plants would ever grow back.
  
  
• The records showed that some rare, threatened and endangered species could be harmed by chemical herbicides, although they were in no danger from milfoil.
  
  
• The applicant refused to support actions that would have made the project safer and more effective.
  
  
• The record identifies a number of alternatives that, in concert, could provide adequate milfoil control.

"Over the past three summers, Lake George tourism and recreation were booming," Houseal said. "The Adirondack Park Agency's staff and commissioners toured the proposed sites for the experimental treatment several times. We also investigated the sites, on our own. There were people swimming, boating and fishing at all four locations. It was hard to find any milfoil at three of the four, and it was difficult to see how milfoil had harmed recreational use of the lake.

"In addition, testimony from the applicant's own witnesses showed that milfoil beds had declined at three of the four sites without any human intervention whatsoever," Houseal said. "At the same time, their own experts kept finding new plant species. This fall, they reported finding a plant at one site -- neobeckia aquatica, or lake cress -- that is so rare it had never been found in Lake George before. So, clearly, milfoil is not choking out other species. In fact, milfoil can only grow on 8 percent of Lake George's bottom. It currently has reached less than 3 percent, although it has been present in the lake for more than 18 years."

Fluridone has never been used in Lake George, or anywhere else in the Adirondack Park. It was registered with the federal government in 1986, but not approved for use anywhere in New York until 1995. Since that time, the Adirondack Park Agency has issued only permits for hand-harvesting and other non-toxic, non-chemical control methods.

"Milfoil is not preventing recreation on the lake. It is not choking out native plants and it is not spreading out of control," he explained. "There are far less toxic ways to remove it. We urge the Lake George Park Commission to go back to what worked so well until 1995, when it stopped hand-harvesting these areas and started asking for permission to use chemicals instead.

"We also urge that they do something -- and soon -- to stop boats from bringing new milfoil into the lake each summer at boat launches and marinas," Houseal said. "You can't stop an invasion if you leave the gate wide open. This is something we would like to see happen throughout the Park."

APA Commissioner Deanne Rehm, formerly the Bolton Town Supervisor, recused herself from voting. Commissioner Frank Mezzano of Lake Pleasant cast the sole "yes" vote.

The Adirondack Council is an 18,000-member, privately funded, not-for-profit organization dedicated to protecting and enhancing the natural character and human communities of the Adirondack Park through research, education, advocacy and legal action.