Public Meetings on Hydrilla Treatment for Kissimmee Chain

huntmstr

http://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/FLFFWCC/bulletins/c6fb15

News Release
Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission sent this bulletin at 07/29/2014 10:14 AM EDT
For immediate release: July 29, 2014

Contact: Greg Workman, 352-620-7335


Suggested Tweet: Ask hydrilla-treatment questions @MyFWC meeting on #Kissimmee Chain of Lakes! http://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/FLFFWCC/bulletins/c6fb15 #fishing #boating

FWC to host public meeting on hydrilla treatment



Managing invasive plants in the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes is the topic of a July 31 public meeting to be hosted by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). The meeting is in Kissimmee from 6-8 p.m. in the County Commission Champers on the fourth floor of the Osceola County Administration Building, 1 Courthouse Square. A live webcast will be available through the County’s website at http://www.osceola.org/meetingsportal/265-10013-0/county_meetings/MeetingList/0.cfm?view=upcoming.

The goal of this meeting is to provide updates, answer questions and receive public input on hydrilla treatments conducted during the past year on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes. The discussion will include current hydrilla management, snail kite nesting and submerged vegetation mapping. Public input from the wide variety of user groups on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, which includes lakes Kissimmee, Hatchineha, Cypress, Jackson and Tohopekaliga, is critical to create a well-balanced approach to managing hydrilla and other invasive aquatic plants.
For information and questions about the meeting, contact Ed Harris, FWC invasive plant management regional biologist, at 321-246-0573.

duckmanJR

Some people will be there.....

139sst

duckmanJR wrote: »

Some people will be there.....

It matters not who shows up to the meeting, the lake will be sprayed and sprayed aggressively by boat and helicopter. Someone has to be getting paid handsomely to spray the chain like they do. Our only hope is the snail kite and maybe a dead panther on the shoreline from drinking the poisonous water.

N. Cook

139sst,...it is obvious you have not been attending the meetings over the past several years, especially since the FWC took over the vegetation control planning. UW-F people religiously attend the meetings and have been working with the FWC and USFWS to keep the waterfowl health a factor in the planning.....There are a lot of stakeholders with different agendas, and a right to lobby for them, and if the hunters are not represented those other stakeholders will prevail....UW-F is advised of every spray plan with maps and participates in the "push and pull" of the process through out the year....The results have been some changes in spraying dates and areas prior to and during duck seasons....not all we ask for, but a reasonable consideration of our positions....Thanks to the FWC and USFWS staffs for their attention and considerations.....

duckmanJR

We also had a very good turn of luck for waterfowl hunters this year with the appointing of Jamie Fedderson in charge of the small game section at FWC (waterfowl)....and Steve Rockwood working in invasive plant mgmnt. They have both worked closely together here in East central Fla and will have a great synergistic effect. Losing both of these local guys to Tallahassee where they can do us good will be bittersweet...but hunters will see big benefits in the future.

binellishtr

i think a lot of people have a misconception of spraying. I hear people all the time complain about lake O,but in reality they only spray for certain things,and have left hydrilla alone for a while. When it becomes a navigational issue and or a drainage issue,then it will be sprayed.

I'm not a fan of spraying in general,but in some cases I have seen ducks in sprayed areas only where new growth is occurring?

We definitely raised awareness over the yrs,we just can't take any backward steps moving on.

Timing may be the biggest issue

duckmanJR

binellishtr wrote: »

i think a lot of people have a misconception of spraying. I hear people all the time complain about lake O,but in reality they only spray for certain things,and have left hydrilla alone for a while. When it becomes a navigational issue and or a drainage issue,then it will be sprayed.

I'm not a fan of spraying in general,but in some cases I have seen ducks in sprayed areas only where new growth is occurring?

We definitely raised awareness over the yrs,we just can't take any backward steps moving on.

Timing may be the biggest issue

Rich, We agree that spraying in general is a two edged knife cutting both ways... Needed in some places...but the outcome is always the same really...dead plant matter turns into silt covering the bottom...which is not good. The alternative is that both submergents and emergents would take over every water body in Florida....so...
a needed " evil " so to speak.

Which brings is to timing...which you are correct about...is the issue we fight every year. We actually have had pretty good success in the KCOL with the exception of Toho...which has the biggest and loudest "stakeholder" group...home owners. They are well connected to the political power so our best bet has always been to align with the bass guys who also like a certain coverage level of Hydrilla.

Snail kites have to be figured in also...and have both helped..and hurt.....but generally have been more on the plus side for hunters.

139sst

Mr. Cook, It is obvious you do not go out on the Kissimmee chain. Toho, Cypress, and Kissimmee were sprayed often and early last year regardless of who was patting you on the back and telling you otherwise. I was out there and saw them, if I see them this year I will take pictures and send them to you. Regardless of what chemical, plant they were spraying the hydrilla was turning brown and stringy.

pgarner222

If they don't spray you won't be able to use the waterbody anymore. The non-natives are a real PIA and they get more and more challenging every year. I have been in the lake management business for 10 years and every year I see new introduced aquatic weeds. Be glad that it's just hydrilla. That plant is controlled pretty easily in comparison to many of the others we have down south. If decaying plant matter and silt are an issue, there are plenty of "muck digesters" on the market. They are expensive but worth the cost in my opinion.

139sst

pgarner222 wrote: »

If they don't spray you won't be able to use the waterbody anymore. The non-natives are a real PIA and they get more and more challenging every year. I have been in the lake management business for 10 years and every year I see new introduced aquatic weeds. Be glad that it's just hydrilla. That plant is controlled pretty easily in comparison to many of the others we have down south. If decaying plant matter and silt are an issue, there are plenty of "muck digesters" on the market. They are expensive but worth the cost in my opinion.[/QUOT

This is not an all or nothing scenario, perfect would be the way Kissimmee and toho were manged in the late 90's and early 2000's.
bass fisherman and duck hunters were all happy.

surfman

139sst wrote: »

Mr. Cook, It is obvious you do not go out on the Kissimmee chain. Toho, Cypress, and Kissimmee were sprayed often and early last year regardless of who was patting you on the back and telling you otherwise. I was out there and saw them, if I see them this year I will take pictures and send them to you. Regardless of what chemical, plant they were spraying the hydrilla was turning brown and stringy.

Cook never said they didn't spray.

gottheitch22

I dont hunt these places but it seems that they could wait till after jan to spray and would be no big deal .

N. Cook

Of course there is spraying....and we (duck hunters) are only one of several stakeholders...and a minority at that....What has been accomplished, as I noted, is some adjustments in the favor of the duck hunters and noticeable improvement in the hunting. Toho is always a fight, but the one we seem to continually lose is Lake Kissimmee....UW-F is there at every meeting doing what can be done....If you have strong feelings on the matter you need to be at the meetings to help offset the numbers of the other stakeholders who are there with other ideas on how to manage the lakes...usually...keep them clean of "weeds"...The timing is a difficult one to fix...we have made some occasional progress toward reducing spraying of hydrilla just before season..and sometimes push the dates back a bit...BUT, the fact is spraying hydrilla is most effective during cold water periods...and the "dry" season when less water is moving through the system...and we have to recognize that cost is involved when you reduce efficiency.

A lot of the spraying done in all parts of FL is necessary...and important. Water Lettuce and hyacinths, floating exotics, will multiply daily and soon cover the water body and block the structures...a massive spray program would be required to remove the floating vegetation...it would die and fall to the bottom, destroying the ability for SAV, ie hydrilla and natural plants, to grow, leaving the sterile muck bottoms seen in all to many lakes in Florida. Those plants have to be continually sprayed, week after week, all year and it is that work you normally observe when out on the lakes.....The hydrilla spraying is much more controlled and local...and in the KCOL we do get prior notice and the maps....Usually presented at the meetings for the stakeholders to review.

gottheitch22

Its as cold feb 1 or colder for the most part as it is in nov or dec .

surfman

Cook, it is a lot easier to just Biach on a form than to actually go out and do something, right.

BuckHunter83

gottheitch22 wrote: »

Its as cold feb 1 or colder for the most part as it is in nov or dec .

February-June is typically off limits for spraying due to snail kites. This leaves the cooler months of November-January for them to get their treatments done which isn't good for ducks or duck hunters and also affects bass as they are gearing up to spawn and then getting on the beds.

139sst

There is no reason for Kissimmee to be continually sprayed like it is, It was a historically weedy and marshy lake. Larry Larson describes lake Kissimmee as " Grass Islands of Kissimmee" in his bass hot spots book in 1992. It used to be you needed and airboat or mud motor to get around anywhere outside the the main bodies of water, now you can hunt the whole lake with an outboard. Why all of the sudden does the lake need to be devoid of hydrilla?

David B

What Larry Larson fails to tell is that historically Lake Kissimmee and the chain, as with many other Florida didn't originally contain the non-native specie of hydrilla that we have come to love.
Many of these lakes held equally as large numbers of ducks before hydrilla. Some even held larger numbers of species that we see few of today during our waterfowl season.
One of the largest, southern most flocks of Canvas Backs wintered on Lake Istokpoga well before the hydrilla covered the lake.
Man I feel your pain about the spraying and the timing. Be happy for the return or the northern movement of the snail kite into the area. If it had not shown up and stayed, I fear that there would be little reason to not spray these bodies of water in an attempt to return them back to native vegetation only. Hopefully waterfowlers like yourself can and will attend any meetings concerning spraying schedules, the locations and the amounts. I know that it took us being very persistent on Lake Istokpoga to get things turned around. UWF was a player in that too. I am not a member of UWF and do not speak for them. I just know what helps, even if ever so slightly.

duckmanJR

surfman wrote: »

Cook, it is a lot easier to just Biach on a form than to actually go out and do something, right.

Some people just make noise...it is a relative handful that tote the water for the many....

N. Cook

Thanks David...your advice and knowledge is always appreciated. We would all like to see the days of lakes with white sand bottoms and thick fields of natural SAV again.....and the ducks that came each year...and great fishing. What we have today is a "mess" but we have to manipulate the available habitat (including the exotics) as best as we can to satisfy a wide variety of stakeholders....and, unfortunately, the wildlife sometimes comes in on the lower rung of the ladder.....Usually, if you work to make the habitat attractive to ducks it will be a "healthy" habitat for a lot of other species. However, shoreline land owners who want to see water and not SAV, pontoon boat spider pole crappie anglers and bass anglers wanting to run their $40,000 bass boats at 50 mph up and down the lakes without the bother of SAV have their own agendas.

smh

I don't have much to add to this discussion, but I did want to echo what N. Cook stated: if you want to have an impact, participate in the process! Go to public meetings, fill out surveys, call/email biologists, generally show up and make your stance known, coordinate with like minded folks and show up in strong numbers. Don't just sit and do nothing. Despite what you may think, the FWC does actually take stakeholder opinions and viewpoints into consideration when making plans. But they won't do it if you don't speak up. They actually do look at the numbers of people from each stakeholder group that show up to meetings, and if your group is well-represented, your viewpoints will carry more weight. The reverse is also true. This was not meant to be a scathing statement, just an exhortation to take action!

duckmanJR

smh wrote: »

This was not meant to be a scathing statement, just an exhortation to take action!

You wasted your time.... this is the clang the pots and pans crowd...not the do something crowd.