Eurasian milfoil on Sharbot Lake – property owners seek containment

Jeff Green | Sep 08, 2021

The Eurasian milfoil has taken root in Sharbot Lake, and it isn’t about to leave.

“It is a chronic issue on Sharbot Lake,” said Linda Cronin, President of the Sharbot Lake Property Owner’s Association. “We can’t get rid of it, but we can try to manage it.”

The Association has been developing a plan to confront the issue, and they have been consulting with the Malcolm and Ardoch Lake Association (MALA), who have done a lot of work on the Eurasian milfoil, and with the drone program at Granite Ridge Education Centre, who have been working with MALA.

In the interim, members of the association, decided to confront a large swath of the rotted matter, made up mostly of degraded milfoil, that has accumulated on the east basin of the lake, not far from the causeway across Road 38.

On Friday, September 3rd, aided by equipment and staff provided for free by the Sharbot Lake Marina, members of the association removed surface material from the east basin. Using rakes and pitch forks, successive two member crews of SLPOA members removed live and rotted material from the surface and loaded it onto the barge, which returned to shore periodically to dump the material onto a trailer to be carted away.

“The material was depriving the area beneath it of oxygen, and was also susceptible to boat traffic coming through and dragging it elsewhere on the lake,” said Linda Cronin about the one group effort. “But we were also trying to educate some of our youth members and others about the European Milfoil and other aspects of lake ecology. It was great to have some of our younger members come out to work on the project.”