Audubon's Dr. Paul Gray submits this report about how lake managers are dealing with aquatic plant management and treatment's effect on Everglade Snail Kite habitat:

In August and September, members of the Lake Okeechobee Aquatic Plant Management team met to discuss plant management, especially in relation to Everglade Snail Kite habitat around Eagle Bay Island.  This small region held 75% of the nests found on Okeechobee in 2011 and has a growing exotic floating plant problem.  If left untreated, the plants could become dense enough to smother Kite and snail habitat, yet if treated, the collateral impacts could harm remaining Kite habitat.  The problem is exacerbated because plants cannot be treated near nests during the nesting season, allowing the plants to become very abundant.

Both meetings had tours of the lake to directly inspect and discuss conditions.  Audubon’s Dr. Paul Gray accompanied representatives from five agencies and plant control contractors.  The August meeting reached the decision to wait to see if storms would raise lake levels, allowing the plants to float out of sensitive zones where they could be treated without collateral impacts.  No rain came and the September meeting decided that a mix of efforts should occur.

Certain very sensitive areas, such as cattail nesting stands, will have no treatments at all.  No helicopter treatments will be used, rather the more surgical airboat treatments will be used.  A few patches of extremely dense (monocultures) exotics will be treated.  Elsewhere selective treatments will occur, avoiding emergent plants.  Lastly, experimental treatment with a new herbicide will be tried in a small area to measure impacts on non-target species (it is not supposed to have impacts, but will be tested anyway).

Plant managers on Okeechobee are bending over backwards to protect Everglade Snail Kite habitat from collateral impacts, while still keeping exotic plants under reasonable control.  I am very grateful for the careful attention they are paying.

In the coming months, Audubon will focus on keeping enough water in Lake Okeechobee to maintain viable Kite habitat, a daunting task considering today’s very low levels.