PORT ANGELES — Lake Sutherland property owners were nearly unanimous Tuesday in their support of a renewed, five-year management district to eradicate Eurasian milfoil.
Clallam County’s three commissioners will decide Tuesday whether to extend the $50-per-parcel annual assessment to 2014 or to hold an election to form a new district that would accomplish the same thing.
Under both proposals, a management district would generate a maximum of $97,000 to pay for the removal of the noxious underwater weed for the next five years.
Decision delayed
Leaning toward an extension of the current district, the commissioners delayed a decision to allow Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Doug Jensen to review legal issues.
Jensen will determine whether a charter county like Clallam has more leeway than a statute county to extend a management district report to the board Monday.
The commissioners are taking the precaution for “safe harbor” and “liability protection,” Commissioner Steve Tharinger said.
An election to form a Lake Sutherland Management District No. 3 would be held in-house — outside the auspices of the County Auditor’s Office — because of the cost a formal election.
Commissioner Mike Chapman said he would be uncomfortable with an in-house election.
“We are not capable of running an election that would meet scrutiny,” Chapman said.
Tharinger said a vote of the property owners would simply affirm their support of extending the current management district. More than 100 landowners have signed a letter supporting the five-year extension of District No. 2.
“I think the results [of an election] would be the same,” Tharinger said.
“My inclination is to just extend it.”
In a public hearing attended by nearly two dozen Lake Sutherland landowners, 10 out of the 11 speakers endorsed the proposal to extend Lake Sutherland Management District No. 2 rather than the proposal to vote on the formation of Lake Sutherland Management District No. 3.
Landowners approved the district to attack Eurasian milfoil in August 2004.
“If we go vote, the result would be the same,” said Paul McCue.
McCue described Lake Sutherland as a “tremendous community asset” that hundreds of recreationalists use every year.
The scenic lake 14 miles west of Port Angeles was infested with the underwater noxious weed earlier this decade.
Annual volunteer effort
Every year, Cathy Lucero, noxious weed control coordinator for Clallam County, leads a volunteer effort to physically eradicate the non-native species, which is considered a hazard to swimmers, a nuisance to boaters and lethal to native plants.
These community cleanups have resulted in drastic declines in Eurasian milfoil around the shores of the 360-acre, 80-foot-deep lake.
“Three or four years ago, we could assure ourselves of finding 2,000 pounds of milfoil,” said Mike Price, who chairs a steering committee that oversees the management district.
“Now we’re down to the bucket you don’t want to see,” he told the commissioners.
Lucero opened the hearing with a presentation on Eurasian milfoil and efforts to eradicate it in Lake Sutherland.
“I never again want to see that sea of green that confronted us at first,” Lucero said.
Lake Sutherland Management District was formed after a grant from the Department of Ecology had expired.
“I am absolutely tickled with the progress we have made,” added Gene Unger, a member of the steering committee.
Eurasian milfoil is transferred from lake to lake by fragments that attach to boats and boat trailers.
It kills other plants and animals by blocking sunlight and altering underwater chemistry.
Swimmers and boats can become tangled up in the thick weed.
Several who took the podium said the volunteer cleanup days have brought the community together.
“I don’t dive, but I feed the divers — very well,” joked Janet Lujibuch, a year-round resident.
Volunteers on the surface of the lake collect milfoil from divers and tow it to shore in bags.
Dan Snyder, vice chairman of the steering committee, said he uses a winch on his boat to move milfoil.
This year’s cleanups are scheduled for Aug. 8 and Sept. 12.
Concerns raised
Steve Cahill, whose family has had property on the lake for 50 years, said he favors a vote of property owners on the formation of a new district. While he’s supportive of keeping the lake free of Eurasian milfoil, Cahill raised concerns about a lack of hard data on the amount of milfoil that has been eradicated and the absence of established protocols for removing the noxious weed.
“What is the end point?” Cahill asked.
“Is it going to be ongoing?”
Lucero said scientists don’t consider a plant to be truly gone until it hasn’t been seen in about five years.
“One plant can become 50 within months,” Lucero said.
Dave Weikel said he supports the extension of the current management district with the stipulation that the steering committee looks at biological control, such as introduction of a competing species, to eliminate Eurasian milfoil. Biological control has worked in about 75 lakes in Washington and British Columbia, he said.
“It is a potential option,” Lucero said. “It isn’t something I would eliminate.”
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
