BNSF chipping in on lake's milfoil control

COCOLALLA — The Cocolalla Lake Association is getting some ammunition for its battle in bridling dreaded Eurasian milfoil.

BNSF Railway is donating $4,500 to the association for its milfoil-control efforts.

The aquatic noxious weed spread to Cocolalla Lake two years ago and now covers approximately 10 percent of the lake.

The donation was presented to the association on Jan. 14 by District 2 Sen. Joyce Broadsword (R-Cocolalla) at Sandy Beach Resort.

In presenting the BNSF check, Broadsword said she was impressed by the initiative of the association, which is aggressively tackling the prolific weed.

Broadsword serves on the Senate Agricultural Affairs Committee.

The lake association is coordinating with Bonner County weed officials, who have also praised the group for its proactive approach in dealing with the problem.

Association officials said they have so far raised $30,000 from local landowners and businesses.

Broadsword and District 1 House Rep. Eric Anderson (R-Priest Lake) are working with state officials and other lawmakers to bring greater awareness of the prolific weed, which chokes waterways and fish habitat.

Anderson, a member of the member of the Noxious Weed Commission, said there were lawmakers in Boise who were not familiar the issue. He has been handing out information cards in the capitol and now there isn't a legislator who doesn't know about the weed and the degradation it brings.

The Idaho State Department of Agriculture estimates it would cost $4 million per year for the next three years to treat all affected waterways in the state. More than 4,000 acres of Idaho waterways are fouled with the weed and some 2,200 acres of that area is within the Pend Oreille watershed.

A recent University of Idaho study indicates there are a quarter of a million acres of water in the state which are ripe for invasion by the weed.