Area gets $650K in milfoil grants

SANDPOINT — Bonner County is receiving $652,000 from the state of Idaho to tangle with Eurasian milfoil this summer.

The county initially sought more than $800,000, but was forced to pare down the request because of $2 million cut in the state’s milfoil control budget. The state’s entire budget for fighting the aquatic noxious weed was slashed to about $1 million, county officials said.

Commissioners accepted the grant funding on Tuesday.

“I don’t think we can miss the opportunity,” Commissioner Lewis Rich said.

County officials fear this will be the last year the money will be available.

The funding will be spent almost entirely on herbicides, although Bonner County Noxious Weed Supervisor Leslie Marshall said some of the money will be used to install bottom barriers, which deprive the plants of sunlight they need to survive.

The casualty in this year’s battle with the weed is anticipated to be deep-water milfoil infestations in Lake Pend Oreille and the Pend Oreille River. Marshall said those areas were sacrificed this year because they’re costly and difficult to treat.

“We do have some patches that are way over 20 feet deep,” Marshall said.

The Bonner Soil & Water Conservation District has been awarded its own state grant funding to mobilize a portable hot-water boat washing station, said Jamie Davis, a water quality resource conservationist with Idaho Association of Soil Conservation Districts.

The state is also providing funding for station signage and money to staff the facility this summer.

“During this season, we will also work to develop a partnership of local entities to help in staffing the station into the future,” Davis said.

The Cocolalla Lake Association has also obtained grant funding for its own wash station.

Meantime, Partners for Eurasian Milfoil Control is seeking donations from the community to raise the $25,000 it needs to establish a pilot program to determine the effectiveness of using weevils to beat back the weeds.

The partnership has already raised some $90,000 for the project and another $61,000 in grant funding is being sought.

The Tri-State Water Quality Council is administering the weevil fundraising effort. For more information or to make a donation, visit www.tristatecouncil.org or call 295-9092.