UPDATE: All 2019 recommended water use restrictions have been lifted. - 7/18/19

In cooperation with Misha Cetner from the Vermont Department Of Environmental Conservation and SOLitude Lake Management (SLM), the Lake St. Catherine Association would like to inform the community that the lake will be treated for milfoil on Wednesday, July 10th, 2019.

On May 16th, biologists from SLM and our DASH suction harvesting team visited the lake to perform a milfoil survey. They have identified areas to be treated with the aquatic herbicide ProcellaCOR and areas to be suction harvested.

This season, the LSCA needed to apply for a new 5 year permit for milfoil treatment, which we did in December of 2018. This new permit was not approved by the state until 5/10/19. There was then a 30 day comment period, then a 30 day notice period, which set the treatment date at July 10th. We did all we could to try to maintain the schedule that we've had in the past, but that was unable to happen this year because of the approval delay.

5 areas, totaling 38.1 acres will be treated with the new herbicide: ProcellaCOR. As compared to the previous herbicide, Renovate, ProcellaCOR is highly selective to milfoil, much less is used during the application, and the water use restrictions are significantly reduced.

During and after the treatment, please be aware of the following lake water use restriction recommendations:

• NO USE of Lake St. Catherine waters and water from the outlet stream FOR ANY PURPOSE including boating, fishing, swimming, domestic (household) use or irrigation, the day of treatment on:

Wednesday, July 10, 2019, beginning at 9 am

• Swimming/wading, boating, fishing and domestic (household) use may resume on:

Thursday, July 11, 2019, beginning at 9 am

• USE of water from Lake St. Catherine FOR IRRIGATION PURPOSES including for watering lawns, trees, or other plants may resume on:

Wednesday, July 17, 2019, beginning at 9 am or earlier based on sampling results, please refer to the website below for results

Please refer to www.solitudelakemanagement.com/vermont for additional information and updated water use advisories and recommendations.

Along with the herbicide treatment, 15 areas, totaling up to 65.8 acres have been selected for DASH. DASH is an acronym for Diver Assisted Suction Harvesting. This process involves scuba divers using suction hoses powered by a surface compressor to selectively remove milfoil from the lake bottom. They will be working throughout the season to remove milfoil by the roots in these designated areas.

Here is a map of the treatment areas for ProcellaCOR and DASH:

Treatment Notice:

Are you a member yet? Maintaining the lake costs approximately $125,000 annually. Grants, membership dues and contributions make up the majority of our funding. If you'd like to help, please consider becoming a member or making a donation. The LSCA is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization and any contribution that you make is tax deductible.

Links:

- LSCA Permit Application
- Draft Permit
- SePRO ProcellaCOR® EC Specimen Label
- SePRO ProcellaCOR® EC Safety Data Sheet

If you have any questions about the upcoming milfoil treatment, please email us at info@lakestcatherine.org.