_CITIZEN LAKE MONITORING PROCEDURE

The BLPOA will now be monitoring and reporting all sightings of aquatic invasives here (our main focus at this time is with EWM) through the SWIMS site of the UWEX...and just as the BLPOA receives credit for all volunteer hours spent monitoring our boat landing to use towards grant money, we will also be eligible through volunteer hours spent looking for and documenting/reporting AIS.
 
Refer to the photos below, and if you see a plant that you suspect to be EWM…

1. Carefully collect/inspect a plant sample (remember that fragments can re-root and start again).
2. If the plant has 12 or more pairs of leaflets, if the plant is limp when pulled out of the water, if the stems appear reddish, and if in the late summer/early autumn the plant does not have turions (winter buds) and/or the leaf whorls are several inches apart …it may be the “bad” EWM.  Contact Jed Lyness at jed.lyness@gmail.com. 
3. If the plant has 12 or fewer pairs of leaflets, if the leaves are rigid when pulled out of the water, if the stems are green (only reddish hues on the newest growth), if the plant has formed turions (winter buds) in late summer/early autumn…it is most likely the “good” northern milfoil.  If you’re not sure, contact Jed Lyness at jed.lyness@gmail.com.
4. Anytime that you are out monitoring/sampling/looking for EWM…report  the date, the number of volunteers, and the amount of hours that you spent doing so to Jed Lyness at jed.lyness@gmail.com.