BATTLE OF THE WATER CHESTNUTS - PHASE 2 - WE ALMOST WIN THE BATTLE
With the help of not only local Goodyear Lake residents, but also with the outstanding effort provided by the folks from OCCA and from the SUNY Biological Field Station, a major amount of water chestnuts were removed from the stump lot area. Also a friend of the water from Stamford, NY brought her canoe and her work ethic to help us as well. Kudos to Bruce Shultis for bringing it all together. Thanks also to Pete Paffenroth for lending us his time & property. Many, many thanks to all!
Dave Riva moves into position
The Fords make their way to the stump lot.
Kelly Miller from OCCA showing how it's done.
The team leaders from OCCA.
Suny Bio. students loading up the water chestnuts.
WHAT FOLLOWS IS PART OF A PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY OCCA TO THE DAILY STAR DETAILING THE VOLUNTEERS' EFFORTS:
Kelly Miller, riparian buffer program coordinator for the Otsego County Conservation Association joined some 30 other volunteers in an Aug. 31 effort to extricate the invasive aquatic water chestnut plant from Goodyear Lake.
Over 30 volunteers turned out in the early hours on Aug. 31 to intensify efforts to eliminate the invasive water chestnut from Goodyear Lake. Eight Goodyear Lake Association members combined forces with six recruits from the Otsego County Conservation Association, one member of the Delaware-Otsego Audubon Association and 20 from SUNY-Oneonta Biological Field Station. Eighteen among them were students in SUNY-Oneonta’s professor Tom Horvath’s lake studies class.
Using johnboats, canoes, and kayaks, an estimated 80% -- roughly 10 pick-up truckloads -- of the highly undesirable plant was removed from the lake.
“It was a fantastic day, with help from OCCA, the biological field station, and the students,” said Bruce Shultis, president of the Goodyear Lake Association.
“This was a worthy effort,” said assistant field station director Matt Albright, “but it won’t solve the problem. More work will have to be done next year.”
According to Albright, most of the plants will be nearing maturity in the next week or so and those remaining must be harvested in the next 2 weeks; otherwise seeds will drop and the plants will multiply and encompass more than just the stump lot in the north end of Goodyear Lake.
“The teamwork was exemplary on the lake today.” “We pulled out some of the largest patches but couldn’t get them all by day’s end,” said OCCA executive director Erik Miller, who pulled chestnuts from the lake until 3 p.m.
“The lake association and its members need to get out there to get the remaining small patch before maturity,” he said.
According to Shultis, the water chestnut has also been spotted at the County Route 35 New York State Department of Environmental Conservation access to the Susquehanna River. OCCA and the field station plan to look into putting informational signs regarding the water chestnut and other invasive species at all DEC access points to the river in Otsego County.