Let's get together and visualize a healthy lake

I mourn the loss of funding for our experimental program to raise native weevils to control milfoil, do revegetation, make signage for boat owners, and hire a real person to do outreach this summer to the public. It was a noble effort by a fairly chosen task force of Bonner County citizens who are as expert as anyone we could have picked from our community to work through all the problems to find long-term, fundable solutions to our milfoil problem.

When I drive on Sunnyside Road and see a loon or a blue heron or a mallard feeding on the water, I am heartsick to think of what we are going to do to our lake. We are interlopers in their habitat. The lake is not just for us to waterski or run our jetskis in. It's a metaphor for our wellbeing. Any lack of respect for its integrity hurts us all

If we want to keep Lake Pend Oreille healthy for ourselves and wildlife, we need to be aware that safety, characteristics and endorsements of herbicide products can be false and misleading.

Herbicides pose health and environmental risks, provide only temporary relief from weed problems and they are exorbitantly expensive.

The EPA states that all "pesticide use creates some risk of harm to humans, animals or the environment." Pesticides should not be used in a routine, repeated or long-term method for controlling invasive weeds in ponds, lakes and rivers. "Eradication" is just a term that is used by herbicide proponents to justify using toxic chemicals. What we want is long-term control that is not harmful.

Remember, the medieval authorities didn't make life pleasant for Copernicus when he told them that the earth revolved around the sun, not vice versa. Let's everyone in our prayers and meditations visualize a pure, healthy lake for all God's creatures.

MERLA BARBERIE

Sandpoint