December 18, 2015 at 4:01 p.m.
Invasive Impacts: Hancock Lake
Invasive Impacts: Hancock Lake
Hancock Lake is included in a few musky tournaments throughout the summer and the occasional local bass club tournament. Because it is not a high-volume lake, the landing is not normally manned with volunteers to inform and educate visitors about the invasives in the lake. With limited resources, it can be difficult for smaller lake groups to find the volunteer base to do the inspections that larger lake groups can accomplish, according to Oneida County AIS Coordinator Michele Sadauskas. The lake association does have several individuals trained as Clean Boats, Clean Waters inspectors, however, and those people can be called upon any time to disseminate invasive species information at the boat landing, the lake association said. Sadauskas said her group has also stopped by to help out by supplying information at the boat landing on occasion, especially when tournaments are being held.
Even though the lake is small and does not have a huge amount of boat traffic, Hancock has still fallen prey to some invasive species. The lake is part of a long-term project with the Department of Natural Resources. The Lake Association said the DNR did a point intercept in 2006 and the lake has been part of the survey ever since with regard to invasive species. Hancock Lake has rusty crayfish and banded mystery snail. It also has invasive plants, namely Eurasian watermilfoil, and curly leaf pondweed, according to the DNR.
Sadauksas said curly leaf pondweed is not found in very many lakes in the Northwoods, and it doesn't seem to grow as prolifically as EWM, but the real problem with that invasive is the turions.
"With milfoils, they fragment," Sadauskas said. "It's that piece or fragment of the plant that breaks off that can travel around the lake and start an entire new colony of plants. With the curly leaf pondweed, it's not a fragmenting plant. They produce turions. They are little hard nuts or seeds. The plants die back early. They like it cool, so the little plants start in the fall. They come up really strong in the spring and die back by summer in a lake. The turions drop into the substrate, and there's thousands of them." She said they do not respond well to chemical treatments. These treatments might work on the plants, but the turions will keep coming back and create more plants.
She said curly leaf pondweed does not seem to do as well here as other invasives like EWM, but it can still get really thick in certain places, robbing other plants of the light and space they need to grow. And because it grows early in the year, as EWM does, it can take over an area early in the year before native plants start to grow, she added.
Eurasian watermilfoil is one of the biggest problem invasives in most lakes, according to Sadauskas. This milfoil fragments fairly easily and just one small fragment can split from the plant, float across the lake and start an entirely new colony of plants in a fairly short amount of time, according to the DNR.
This plant is also an early-grower and will often reach the surface of the lake and form thick mats, robbing native plants of the sunlight they need to grow. EWM can also make boating and swimming difficult, as boat props become choked by masses of weeds. Controlling EWM takes more management than some other invasives and it is one that lake groups try to stay on top of whenever possible.
While the Hancock Lake Association is fairly small, it does work hard to control invasives in the lake. The association's plan, according to member Randy Fetcher, is to do manual pulling of both curly leaf pondweed as well as Eurasian watermilfoil. He said the lake association has noticed that plants are not always found in the same locations around the lake. The lake does have a healthy population of native weeds and Fetcher wondered if this might be the reason the Eurasian watermilfoil has not taken over as it has in some other lakes. The lake group will continue its hand-pulling strategy to control the invasives.
It will also continue to monitor where the plants grow and if they are spreading to different areas of the lake. The lake association wans to remind visitors that they should clean all of the weeds and other debris off of their boats before they enter the water and again after coming out of the water to help avoid the spread of invasive species.
This small lake has a lot to offer and its quiet serenity is something the lake association said all residents enjoy. The association is doing what it can to make sure it stays healthy and the invasive species stay in check for years to come.
Beckie Joki may be reached via email at [email protected].
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