Lake Mishnock Preservation Association
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Phase I Lake Treatment

Finally, June 10, 2005, all the work of the Lake Mishnock Preservation Association paid off with the first treatment of the lake.
 
 

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The propeller boat was used to spread the DEM approved chemical "Reward" to reduce the growth of invasive weeds.  This is not a "cure all" but a good beginning. LMPA plans to work with appropriate agencies and the public to manage the root causes of lake degradation: drainage pollution, industrial practices, lack of septic system maintenance, the misuse or overuse of lawn fertilizer and other factors. A healthy wetlands ecosystem is important for the neighborhood and the state.
 
On July 21 ACT spot treated the lake for lilies, which are extermely dense in Little Mishnock. They used a small boat with an outboard motor and slowly cruised the lake, spraying the herbicide on the leaves of the lilies, especially trying to thin the areas around docks and boat launches. While it is clear the spraying made a difference, more needs to be done. Another spraying will be scheduled for this summer and that will be the end of ACT activity on the lake. Overall a lot was acheived this summer. This writer knows of just one complaint, someone who thought the weeds had not changed in the past 10 year. Everyone else spoken to around the lake viewed weed infestation as a serious problem. One long term resident said she hadn't dived off her dock or gone swiming for the past five years because of the weeds. This year she did both.

The Coventry Courier's Jennifer Swanson wrote a front-page story on June 24 about the Lake Mishnock Preservation Association's work to fight invasive weeds in Lake Mishnock. Below are some excerpts from that story:
 
  It took a whole lot of work and a whole lot of pasta but The Lake Mishnock Preservation Asociation (LMPA) achieved success last week in the form of a few biologists and a little propeller boat.
  LMPA, organized officially only a few months ago, managed to raise enough public support and money to initiate a weed abatement program for Mishnock this year.
The  project has instilled a renewed sense of community in Mishnock's neighborhoods.
   Several fundraisers, including a pasta dinner to which 445 tickets were sold, and a number of generous cash donations generated the necessary capital: $ 8,760.
  The town council added a new line item to its 2005-06 budget "Wetlands Restoration," to which $2,500 was allocated.  That sum will help support LMPA treatment in 2006.
  LMPA President Dan Albro said the assocation signed a three-year contract with Aquatic Control Technolgy Inc. to treat the lake for its invasive milfoil and white water lilies.
  The group plans on holding more public meetings and educational forums with the intent of increasing the area's environment awareness.
 "The board right now is really only acting as a steering committee," said Dan Albro.   "When our three-year contract expires with Aquatic Control Technology, the board will come up for vote."
  "People have gotten to know each other through this," said Albro. "We've make a lot of positive changes so far and it's only going to get better."
 
LMPA appreciates the coverage The Coventry Courier has given to this important community effort.