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Paterson Lake residents urge nonchemical options as steering committee considers herbicide treatments
Summary
At a Thurston County meeting, a resident urged county officials to avoid using conditional-status herbicides (imazapyr and endothall) in Paterson Lake and recommended manual harvesting or ground sheeting instead, citing county environmental-health assessments that list those chemicals as conditional for use.
Brett Trowbridge, speaking during public comment on Feb. 18, urged Thurston County officials to reject proposed herbicide treatments for a channel in Paterson Lake and to favor mechanical or manual harvesting instead.
Trowbridge said the county's own environmental-health assessment categorizes imazapyr and endothall in a "conditional" range for use and noted that a previously proposed glyphosate treatment was abandoned after public concern. He argued that applying herbicides could release nutrients when plant matter decays on the lake bottom and thereby worsen algae blooms over time.
"Why not use harvesting? Just pull the lily pads," Trowbridge said, suggesting volunteers or community groups could remove vegetation to open a navigable channel and avoid chemical exposure to people and drinking-water sources. He said Paterson Lake drains to a spring district and raised water-supply concerns.
Trowbridge also noted other local lakes have used herbicides and alum treatments with limited long-term success and recommended low-tech alternatives such as ground sheeting or regular harvesting.
No county decision on the proposed chemical treatments was made at the meeting. Trowbridge said he expected the Board of Health to review pesticide approvals and requested clarity on the Board of Health's composition and decision timeline.
