Weed-hunting divers at top of SMLA's wish list

From Smith Mountain Lake: Weed-hunting divers at top of SMLA's wish list
If you're wondering what to get the proficient swimmers in your life for Christmas this year, you might consider swim goggles and snorkel or scuba gear. Not only will it make for fun, summertime memories, you'll also be helping the Smith Mountain Lake Asswociation find hydrilla, curlyleaf pondweed and other invasive weeds growing in the lake.

Hydrilla is a serrated-leafed plant that grows in the lake during warm-weather months, usually from June to September. Increasingly, divers and swimmers with snorkel gear are being recruited to help search for the invasive plant.

Lake resident and SMLA member Tom Scott has recruited nearly a half-dozen swimmers in his neighborhood on the Blackwater River arm of the lake.

"There's a better chance of searching for it by diving," said Scott. "We can tell exactly where it is by going under and looking at it."

If the young plants are caught early enough in the season and treated professionally with herbicide, growth is reduced significantly, according to Brent Reus, co-chair of SMLA's weed-monitoring program.

SMLA officials said they are hoping that in the coming year, more divers and snorkelers will sign up to help the four-year-old weed-monitoring program.

"We're hoping to recruit more people so we can cover an even larger area of the lake," said Reus.

From June 1 through Sept. 30, residents who see plants growing in their area of the lake are encouraged to call SMLA's weed hotline, 719-WEED.

Doug Pafford, who serves with Reus as co-chair of the committee, explained how the hotline works.

"A monitor is then dispatched to the location to identify the weed," said Pafford. "If it is identified as an invasive weed, that monitor or another monitor will gather samples and attempt to determine the extent of the infestation."

The monitor logs the call in a database and, if it's determined to be hydrilla or curlyleaf pondweed, contacts the Tri-County Lake Administrative Commission, which arranges to have the plants treated by a licensed contractor.

On the aquatic vegetation page of the SMLA website, a Google Earth map of the lake pinpoints the locations where hydrilla and curlyleaf pondweed have been found based on the calls to the weed hotline.

"We've done a lot better job of identifying and mapping this year," said Pafford. "As soon as we get the weeds identified, the database is updated within two days."

In 2011, the hotline received calls from 140 residents. Hotline volunteers referred 76 hydrilla locations to TLAC, an increase of 41 from the previous year, according to the SMLA website.

Even after an area has been treated, snorkelers and divers can go back to that same area and see if the treatment was effective, said Scott, who has discovered hydrilla growing in depths from two feet to 15 feet of water.

"We've found that the treatment doesn't always do the job initially," he said. "Sometimes we have to go down and check it out and sometimes we've found that [the treatment] didn't do the job."

Scott, Pafford and Reus said they are hopeful that more residents - including divers and snorkelers - will get involved in the coming year and even consider joining the SMLA.

"As we have every year, we try to improve the program and for 2012, we hope to recruit more snorkelers and we are actively trying to recruit scuba divers," said Pafford.

While hydrilla can be treated at any time, it's more effective to treat the weed early in the season while the plants are still in the relatively younger stages of growth.

"By diving into the water, they can determine if it is a widespread and heavy infestation or a few scattered patches," said Pafford. "It is also important to know the boundaries of the infestation, and divers can best determine that."

In May, SMLA will hold a training program for those who are interested in serving as monitors. For more information, visit smlassociation.org or contact Doug Pafford, dpafford@jetbroadband.com or 721-2380; or Brent Reus, reus81@gmail.com or at 890-0914.