Milfoil weed invasion called ‘emergency’

BOISE – Lakes and ponds throughout Idaho are infested with a non-native invasive weed, a multimillion-dollar problem that government agencies must address immediately, lawmakers and state officials said Tuesday.

“It’s an emergency,” said Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake. “This weed is going to take over our water, and we’re not going to have money left for our terrestrial problems.”

Eurasian milfoil covers more than 4,000 surface acres of water in Idaho, mostly in North Idaho. The plant grows underwater and is difficult to detect until it breaks the surface, forming a layer so dense it can be walked across with snowshoes, said Matt Voile, noxious weed program manager for the Idaho Department of Agriculture.

A problem across the country, milfoil can entangle swimmers and boats, causing wrecks, and it has been blamed for at least one drowning.

Voile said the problem could hurt Idaho’s $2.3 billion tourism and recreation industry.

Treating all the lakes and rivers already infested could take three annual treatments at a cost of $4 million per treatment, Voile said.

The state department of agriculture’s budget requests just $100,000 more for noxious weed control next year. Money to fight Eurasian milfoil could require a separate request, Anderson said.

Anderson said he’s been lobbying legislative budget writers about the problem. “I think there’s funding available,” he said.

Anderson organized Tuesday’s special meeting of the Joint Legislative Environmental Common Sense Committee, to bring together agency officials and concerned citizens.

There’s been talk of adopting a tax to fund Eurasian milfoil treatment but Anderson said funding can’t wait.

“We need the money now,” he said.

Jim Yost, Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s senior policy adviser, said the governor’s office knows about the milfoil problem and will work with state and federal agencies on how best to handle it.

Methods for fighting Eurasian milfoil vary in cost. Chemical treatment, considered most efficient for large infestations, can cost anywhere from $200 to $1,150 per acre, Voile said.

But because of the fast-spreading nature of the weed – as little as three-quarters of an inch of milfoil can start a new infestation in another lake or stream – ridding Idaho of it could be impossible, said Dave Lamb, coordinator of the Eurasian Water Milfoil Task Force and vice chairman of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe.

“We would like to think as a milfoil task force that we can shoot for eradication of milfoil, however, we have to acknowledge that the chances of doing that may be limited,” Lamb said.

“It’s difficult at best, especially on a large lake like Pend Oreille or Lake Coeur d’Alene. … The threat that it would be brought in from another neighboring lake is always there,” he said.

But it’s possible to at least to control the weed and stop it from inhibiting recreation, Lamb said.

Anderson called Eurasian milfoil “one of the biggest water environmental issues that we’ve ever dealt with.”

“This is not a North Idaho issue. It’s not a south Idaho issue. It’s an Idaho issue,” he said.