Posted on July 26, 2018
Score one for the rare snails nestling along the shoreline of Stockbridge Bowl.
Mass Wildlife’s Natural Heritage and Species Protection Program has killed the planned $4 million project to deep-dredge portions of the weed-choked lake to remove a massive sediment buildup. The plan would have enabled a 5.5-foot winter drawdown to kill the Eurasian milfoil infestation threatening to turn parts of the state-owned “Great Pond” into a bog.
The state agency blocked the cleanup in order to protect the Marstonia lustrica snails, found in only one other Massachusetts habitat — Laurel Lake in Lee and Lenox.
What now?
The town has one plan for limited “maintenance dredging,” while the Stockbridge Bowl Association has a more wide-ranging solution.
The Select Board voted 2-0 this week to ask GZA GeoEngineering of Springfield to prepare two new scenarios and cost estimates — conventional dredging or hydro (hydraulic) dredging along the channel between Kuniikwat Island and the Interlaken Dam. That would be a scaled-down, partial solution aimed at clearing away a major buildup of sediment. Board Chairman Donald Chabon recused himself because he lives on the lake.
“Natural Heritage told us they will never allow us to draw down more than our current 2.9-foot drawdown; we cannot dredge any further than that,” Town Administrator Danielle Fillio said, “because the channel is a potential habitat for the snails.”
But the state might approve deeper digging in certain locations within the habitat area between the dam and the island in order to remove sediment and better maintain the current winter drawdown, she added.
“If we can remove two to three feet of sediment, that will make a very large difference for us,” she told the Select Board. “But they cannot say yes or no to us until we file an actual application.”
Fillio pointed out that Natural Heritage prefers the more expensive hydraulic dredging method.
If hydraulic dredging is chosen, sediment would be pumped to Bullard Woods, as specified in the original project plan, said Selectman Ernest “Chuckie” Cardillo. Bullard Woods, with its popular hiking trail, was donated to the Stockbridge Bowl Association in 1961.
“That’s a really strange place to put it; I’m amazed at that,” Selectman Terry Flynn said. “It would seem to be better to put in an open field.”
But the association, which has coordinated a massive fundraising campaign to support the lake cleanup, is planning a much more comprehensive approach: herbicide treatment, widely considered the gold standard to control potential or actual weed invasion in more than 300 lakes statewide, including many in Berkshire County.
Association president Richard Seltzer told The Eagle that, in a secret ballot, the 16-member board voted unanimously to support the chemical application, with strong backing from the association’s membership of 400 property owners around the lake.
Despite local opposition to herbicides, especially on the Conservation Commission, Seltzer emphasized that, under state law, towns have no jurisdiction over herbicides because of a ruling by the the Supreme Judicial Court. In a 1985 decision, the state’s highest court determined that a local town board in Wendell in Franklin County could not override state laws allowing the reasonable use of approved herbicides or pesticides.
“The Stockbridge Bowl Association recognizes that we have three major problems and we have unanimously adopted a coordinated plan to solve those problems,” Seltzer stated.
He cited the milfoil infestation around virtually the entire perimeter of the lake out to depths of up to 16 feet, creating a ripple effect of water lily buildups around docks of individual landowners south and west of the island. Seltzer also noted that the main channel from the island to the dam at the end of the lake’s outlet is choked by 8 to 10 feet of accumulated sediment.
The association’s solution calls for:
– The the application of a herbicide to control the Eurasian milfoil;
– Hydro-raking to eliminate water lilies and some of the sediment near individual docks;
– Dredging to eliminate accumulated sediment, limited to the center of the outlet channel in areas that are not inhabited by the rare and endangered snail.
About $2 million remains available, Seltzer said, including $600,000 in federal money channeled through the Department of Environment Protection. So far, the project has consumed $1.1 million for a diversion pipe installation and engineering studies.
The goal, according to Seltzer, is herbicide treatment next summer by Solitude Lake Management, the leading applicator of the chemicals on lakes countywide and across the state.
“This is the normal path for resuscitating a lake and getting rid of invasive weeds,” he said. The “lake-lift” plan was hatched 20 years ago, and was geared up in 2009.
The association has signed a contract with Solitude for a study of aquatic plants in the bowl this summer to determine which herbicide would be used, and where to apply it. The next step would be the association’s authorization to issue requests for proposals to treat the lake, as well as hydro-raking and limited dredging. A notice of intent would be filed with the town and the state, Seltzer said.
He pointed out that at a meeting this past spring organized by state state Sen. Adam Hinds, D-Pittsfield, and state Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli, D-Lenox, Natural Heritage officials recommended herbicides as the solution, citing the Supreme Judicial Court ruling.
At the meeting, Tom French, division head for Natural Heritage, vetoed the original massive dredging plan leading to a 5.5-foot lake drawdown because it would create a “killing zone” that would destroy much of the rare snail’s habitat.
Seltzer cited a statement by the chief biologist for Solitude Lake Management that no lake or pond treated with herbicides has caused a fish kill or any ill effects on humans.
The 372-acre lake, maintained by the town, is used by an estimated 6,000 watercraft annually. The annual Josh Billings Runaground triathlon in mid-September includes a twice-around-the-lake race by more than 500 kayaks and canoes.
In addition to the state DEP grant, town taxpayers have approved $825,000 toward the project, while federal Clean Water grants total $910,000. The rest of the cost has been raised through more than $1 million in private donations from the Stockbridge Bowl Association members, plus support from foundations and local businesses.
A full presentation of the three-pronged cleanup plan will be offered at the annual meeting of the Stockbridge Bowl Association at 2 p.m. July 28 at Berkshire Country Day School on Route 183. It’s open to the public, and Keith Gazaille, a biologist from Solitude, will attend the session.
Source: The Berkshire Eagle
