If you are a regular reader, you probably remember the article we wrote in June titled “Vile weed: Restoring shoreline with controlled weed removal.” Well, we made some significant progress in our battle against the phragmites infestation at Utah Lake, this time in Saratoga Springs.
On Monday and Tuesday (September 11-12) mornings, we conducted a helicopter spray of 260 acres using a safe, aquatic-rated herbicide called Aqua Neat®, a product similar to RoundUp®, only specifically formulated for use along water bodies. A few weeks ago, we published this article to inform residents and lake stakeholders what to expect. You can see the areas we treated on these maps.
- Map 1: Jordan River Outlet
- Map 2: Saratoga Bay
- Map 3: Saratoga Springs City Marina
Spraying began at about 7:00 AM. Conditions were perfect, with a very slight breeze blowing to the east. With these ideal weather conditions, the helicopter pilot focused on the Saratoga Bay area first to ensure safe application closest to the shoreline and residential areas. He then worked his way out toward the lake. After a couple of hours of flying back and forth to the staging area at Inlet Park, the wind began to pick up, meaning that it was exceeding 5 mph. We were about 60% done at that point. A couple of hours later, hoping the wind would die down, we determined that we probably wouldn’t get the needed wind conditions again that day, so elected to start up again the next morning.
On Tuesday, we had prime conditions again and were able to treat the area near the Jordan River Outlet and a couple of miles of shoreline near the Saratoga Springs City Marina at the south end of the city. By 9:00 AM, we were done..which was perfect, as the wind started to pick up once again.
We’re anxiously awaiting, as are many residents, to see the results of this project. Remember, this is just the first of three treatments that will be conducted.
If you didn’t get a chance to see the action, check out the YouTube link below. If you did see it, comment below what you thought.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atZTJVJau1I[/youtube]
Photo Credit: Dee Chamberlain
Reed,
Great video and a great start to the restoration of our shoreline on this side of the lake.
Also, not a bad still picture, if I may say so.
Sincerely,
Dee Chamberlain
Dear Reed, Thank you very much. This is so exciting, and I do hope it is successful. I’ve been brain-storming and wondering what would work inexpensively. This new product, Aqua Neat, sounds super. Hope it’s not too pricy? Is it available for me to try on some of our problem areas? Thanks again, and best wishes, Keith
I was told that they were going to spray twice before winter and then smash it all down. Is this true? Went out in my boat on Sunday and didn’t really see a lot happening as to the death and distruction of those weeds. Hope this works. I have lived right on the lake for 12 years and really liked watching the water and wild life then. Can’t see anything now. The videa did show that at least one application took place.