Caroga town is 7th Adirondack Park community to receive permit to try ProcellaCOR
By Gwendolyn Craig
A pair of popular lakes in the southern Adirondacks will be the latest treated for an invasive aquatic weed with an herbicide, the first such mitigation measure in more than three decades of management.
East and West Caroga lakes, connected by a channel, are just south of the Shaker Mountain Wild Forest in Fulton County. The town is the seventh entity in the Adirondack Park to receive a permit for ProcellaCOR EC from the Adirondack Park Agency.
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The APA, which oversees public and private development in the Adirondack Park, voted on Thursday to allow the town of Caroga to administer the herbicide in three treatment areas in East Caroga Lake. The board also approved a fourth treatment area in West Caroga Lake.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation issued pesticide permits for the applications in April.
Caroga Lake plan
People first identified invasive Eurasian watermilfoil in Caroga Lake in the 1980s. In 1990, diver-assisted suction harvesting began to manage the weed in the east lake, and in 1994, the west lake. Eurasian watermilfoil outcompetes native vegetation, and can make recreation like boating, fishing and swimming difficult.
Diver-assisted suction harvesting involves hand-pulling the roots of the fast-growing weed and placing them into an underwater vacuum, which spits them out on a boat. From 2019 to 2022, more than $320,000 was spent on managing the invasive species.
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Lake managers say East Caroga Lake was the milfoil hot bed, but starting in 2020 and 2021, West Caroga Lake began developing its own population. They hope to supplement diver-assisted suction harvesting with the herbicide to “reduce manpower and associated costs.”
About one-third of commenters were opposed to the herbicide applications. They were concerned about chemical use, potential health impacts and potential fish impacts. All other commenters supported the effort.
The permit approves treatment of 37 acres within the four areas. Just under 10 gallons of ProcellaCOR EC, an herbicide that mimics a plant growth hormone, will be used. The town will also provide the APA with a post-treatment survey.
The town, APA staff told board members, has a $30,000 state grant to apply the herbicide to the first three areas. It does not yet have the funding for the fourth area.
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Minerva Lake in Essex County was the first in the Adirondack Park to use the herbicide. The 2020 application has proven to curtail the growth of Eurasian watermilfoil and native aquatic vegetation is growing back.
Outstanding concerns
Shortly after the permit received APA approval, skeptics of the herbicide’s use presented interim findings from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture published in February showing its active ingredient is a kind of “forever chemical” known as PFAS. PFAS are per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals that are difficult to break down in the environment and have been linked to some cancers, birth and developmental defects and other health problems, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Though ProcellaCOR EC has been reviewed and approved for use by the EPA and the DEC, groups like the Lake George Association are concerned with its potential long-term impacts.
The LGA sued the Adirondack Park Agency over a permit it issued for the herbicide to be put into Lake George but lost in court. The association has signaled it will appeal.
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The Lake George Park Commission, which brought the initial application, is currently reapplying for a permit to use the herbicide in two Lake George bays.
The latest Lake George application is expected to come before the board in June, as is an application to use ProcellaCOR EC in Chateaugay Lake.
What is ProcellaCOR herbicide and how does it target milfoil?
Proponents of the herbicide ProcellaCOR say it’s safe and effective. Skeptics warn the studies are limited and the long-term effects are still not well understood.
Lake George Waterkeeper Chris Navitsky told APA board members the Minnesota report “should be an immediate alarm warranting an immediate cessation of ProcellaCOR treatments.”
Claudia Braymer, deputy director of Protect the Adirondacks, called on the board to convene an adjudicatory hearing, that is a public hearing before an administrative law judge and the only way the agency can deny a permit.
“We think a hearing was needed earlier than now, but we don’t have information on the long-term impacts,” she said.
Lake George Park Commission Executive Director David Wick emailed a response to Lake George park commissioners that said he has reached out “to regulatory and industry experts on this topic for clarification.” The EPA, he added, does not consider ProcellaCOR EC to be a PFAS. Minnesota’s new definition of PFAS appears to be broader.
Wick said the herbicide “is chemically nothing like those compounds, it’s been exhaustively studied, and the research makes clear it doesn’t persist in the environment, doesn’t bioaccumulate, and poses no risk to non-target organisms, including humans.”
Top photo: Eurasian watermilfoil is seen in one of the Caroga Lakes. Photo courtesy of an Adirondack Park Agency presentation
“Shortly after the permit received APA approval, skeptics of the herbicide’s use presented interim findings from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture published in February showing its active ingredient is a kind of “forever chemical” known as PFAS. ”
Presented them where?
I think this is the study: https://www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/2024/mandated/240221.pdf