Milfoil treatment areas prioritized

SANDPOINT — Heavily-trafficked recreation areas on the Pend Oreille are being recommended as priority Eurasian milfoil treatment areas in 2011.

The recommendations to the Idaho State Department of Agriculture were developed by the Bonner County Invasive Species Task Force. The county commission is scheduled to adopt the advisory board’s recommendations during its weekly business meeting on Tuesday.

Although the recommended treatments sites are places widely used by the public, the county is asking the state to conduct the treatments before or after the swimming season.

The county also seeks to avoid treatment around or near water intakes.

The 13-site priority list is as follows: City Beach/Windbag, Memorial Field, Hope boat launches, Bonner Park West, Laclede (including Willow Bay and Riley Creek), Dover Bay and Springy Point, Garfield Bay, Morton Slough river access, Priest River area, upstream of Albeni Cove, Johnson Creek, Bottle Bay and Ellisport Bay.

“There is another area of concern which is on Lake Pend Oreille but located in Kootenai County and that is the area of Bayview. It has been brought to our attention there is milfoil there now,” commissioners said in a draft recommendation letter to ISDA.

County officials anticipate a survey will be conducted to confirm the presence of non-native milfoil in the proposed treatment sites.