Chautauqua Lake Association workers clean up Burtis Bay on Thursday. P-J photo by Eric Zavinski

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation announced that 245.3 acres of Chautauqua Lake will be permitted for potential herbicide treatments later this year.

Whether the maximum acreage receives herbicide treatments is dependent on how five municipal boards vote during upcoming special meetings this month. Herbicide permits have been sent to the village of Lakewood, village of Celoron, town of Ellicott, town of North Harmony and town of Ellery.

“There will be no applications north of Long Point, along undeveloped shoreline or in areas containing critical fish spawning and nursery areas,” said Maureen Wren, NYSDEC media relations professional. “In addition, areas treated in 2018 will not be treated this year because DEC typically does not authorize herbicide treatment in the same location two years in a row.”

As such, the town of Busti, which did have herbicides applied along its shores last year, is not permitted to have herbicides applied in 2019 despite the town going through the application process this year.

The village of Lakewood announced that its special meeting to consider the NYSDEC permits will be hosted Tuesday at 9 a.m. at the Anthony C. Caprino Municipal Building.

As of now, a map of the permitted lake areas has not been released. According to the Memorandum of Agreement for the Chautauqua Lake Weed Management Consensus Strategy, the NYSDEC-permitted acreage falls in line with binding guidelines established in the document.

The memo states that a maximum of 567 acres — 25 percent of littoral zones south of Long Point State Park — would have been allowed for treatment this year. A total of 245.3 acres maximum is less than half of the requirements established by Chautauqua County along with Ecology and Environment, the firm that helped put together the lake agreement.

All municipalities will now be able to approve the maximum amount of their specific permitted areas for herbicides Navigate and Aquathol K to be used to treat Chautauqua Lake waters.

NYSDEC permits have also effectively rendered the town of Ellery’s main concern — that the lake agreement would not have allowed the town to have herbicides used north of Long Point State Park — a moot point since permits are not allowing herbicides to be used beyond that state park shoreline.

Last year, the NYSDEC approved 191 acres of the lake to be treated with herbicides. After municipal voting sessions and funding successes and failures on behalf of municipal governments, only 90 acres were treated in the towns of Busti, North Harmony and Ellery.

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