Summer 2015 LOCALadk Magazine 17
LOCALadk
3038 Main Street
Old Forge, NY 13420
Furnishing Great Camps
And "great" camps
Wilderness
Interiors
Located on the Stillwater Reservoir
13 miles north of Big Moose Lake.
7 rooms, serving
Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner,
7 days a week in season.
(315) 376-6470
www.stillwateradirondacks.com
Stillwater
Hotel
5 Star Rated
on Trip
Advisor!
Across the country communities and governments are facing the problem
posed by out of control milfoil growth with largely industrial methods.
Big equipment has been developed to rake, dredge or even cut plant
growth like floating bulldozers. A whole array of chemicals has been con-
cocted that are meant to single out and kill the milfoil plants. Other inva-
sive species presumed to be competition for milfoil have been introduced
en masse. All of these methods when applied with an industrial thought
process have failed to achieve lasting success. Thanks to the Blue Line
and the laws that exist within it, milfoil managers in the Adirondacks have
had to think outside the box. Rather than spreading chemicals and dredg-
ing lake bottoms they hired humans to go underwater and pull the plants
out. Improbable as it seems, the tedious and time consuming act of hand
harvesting acres upon acres of milfoil has been successful on many lakes
in the park.
In sustainable forestry the goal is to maintain balance in the forest eco-
system. This is often accomplished by selective logging, cutting timber
in such a way that forest health is improved. Under the lake surface is an
aquatic forest where the same principles of management can be applied.
By selectively removing the problem growth and leaving the balanced
growth we are maintaining the health and stability of the aquatic system.
More aggressive and disruptive methods only serve to create new space
for invasive species to emerge, like the empty mud-plain of a dredged
lake bottom or the decaying remnants of a chemically treated plant stand.
Andrew Lewis
