I and one or two other volunteers will do the work. One neighbor has volunteered to help.

Most of the target area is very shallow but scuba will likely be necessary for some of the placement work. I am a PADI Rescue certified diver with much experience in various conditions including lakes. And I have scuba gear.

In preparation, I plan to remove some of the weeds. This step is not necessary to the technique but pre-clearing some of this biomass would make it easier to install the barriers in the shallows and it will reduce the amount of rotting matter during treatment, which may reduce maintenance later. I have a lake rake with which I can shovel weeds from the areas that are completely choked. I will load a canoe and compost the removed weeds.

The fabric will be cut from the bolt into tailored pieces. These will be re-rolled, taken to the site, unrolled and sunk, pinned at the corners and along the sides with sandbags. A number of overlapping pieces will be assembled to cover a contiguous area.

Optionally, instead of covering one contiguous area, depending on circumstances, I may purposely leave gaps that I would hand-pull after installation. The idea is that these gaps, if cleared quickly, would help restore the area post treatment, and would add to the amount of edge effects that is a side benefit of the barriers to fish.

From the shore or from a row boat, one person will hold the rolled fabric and dole it out while a second person in a row boat or canoe pulls the fabric across the water. The four corners of the section will be weighted and the weights dropped into approximate position. Then a sandbag is dropped in the center of the barrier. Then the fabric will be pressed down, flattening it outwards from the center sandbag, crushing the plants as much as possible. This would be done either from the boats using hands and canoe paddles and/or a swimmer with snorkel and mask in shallows or scuba diver in deeper water. More sand bags are positioned as the barrier is flattened, and adjusted as necessary.

While the barriers are in position I will check the site daily. I will check for billowing, which can either be pushed to the sides or the fabric can be cut to vent the gas without affecting the treatment.

The fabric can be removed or moved to an adjacent location after 4 to 8 weeks. However, because the fabric is porous, does not degrade quickly and is inexpensive, it is possible to leave some pieces in place. This is similar to the use of Typar as a separator in road construction and riprap. In some cases this might be desirable, e.g. where the muck layer is shown to be the source of nutrient loading in the water column, or for longer term control with less maintenance requirements. But for now I plan to remove the barriers when the weeds are dead in the target area.

After the initial treatment I will take steps to establish native plants and prevent re-growth of non-native plants. I have already restored by hand-pulling an area around my dock adjacent to the target area, returning it to a mostly low growing native lake grass. I will use this is as stock, transplanting plants and/or seeding the treated area. And hand-pulling any invasive weeds that return to the treated area.

Sand Bags

For economic, environmental and conservation reasons, I would take sand from the beach next door. See map. Use the sand there to fill sandbags, also made of Typar. This avoids bringing in any foreign materials to the lake.