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County to consider five‑year plan to tackle Eurasian watermilfoil in Payette Lake
Summary
State and local partners presented a five‑year plan to reduce Eurasian watermilfoil in Payette Lake, proposing targeted herbicide and mechanical treatments across initial treatment blocks of roughly 50–60 acres and warning the effort will require sustained funding beyond the county's current $35,000 line item.
Commissioners heard a presentation on March 23 from Idaho State Department of Agriculture staff and local stakeholders on a proposed five‑year plan to reduce Eurasian watermilfoil in Payette Lake.
Nick Zurflu of the Idaho State Department of Agriculture asked the board for county endorsement of the focused plan and said stakeholders plan a public meeting for lakefront owners in the coming weeks. "We're hoping to get some good endorsement from the county coming at it today," Zurflu said, summarizing the working group's goal of a narrowly scoped effort for the 2026 field season.
Jeremy Varley, the department's chief treatment engineer, told commissioners the approach would not treat the full lake at once but would target nearshore infestations in smaller, repeatable treatment areas. "It will be in targeting very targeted treatment areas specific to the milfoil growth," Varley said, noting the working group proposes beginning with roughly 50–60 acres of treatment across the lake's nearshore zones.
Local stakeholders and technical advisors framed the plan as a way to reset the infestation to levels manageable by diver suction and hand removal teams. Dave Bara, a member of the lake's Water Quality Council and technical committee, said working group estimates place the existing biomass well beyond what manual removal alone can address. "We estimated 297,375 pounds of this stuff is in Payette Lake — that's 148 tons — and a diver suction removal team can remove about 147 pounds a day," Bara said, arguing that mechanical removal alone no longer suffices.
Presenters used Hayden Lake as a case study, saying herbicide‑assisted programs there reduced seasonal treatment footprints from hundreds of acres down to repeatable patches of 30–40 acres and allowed native species to reestablish. Varley said treated areas often do not require re‑treatment for up to three years depending on local conditions.
Speakers acknowledged concerns about herbicide safety and breakdown. Varley and other technical participants said the working group will monitor breakdown rates and water chemistry and that available evidence shows selective herbicide use can be implemented with monitoring. "We're going to monitor that... that's part of the plan, to look and see how fast it breaks down in Payette Lake," Varley said. He and others also said the goal is to reduce reliance on chemicals over time as infestations fall to manageable levels.
Funding challenges were a recurring theme. Stakeholders said the county's current $35,000 line in the budget is only a start and that Department of Agriculture or other grants could provide the bulk of early funding. "I would imagine the department budget is going to be in excess of $200,000, plus or minus," one participant said, urging county partners to identify their likely share so it can be included in next year’s budgets.
The board did not take formal action at the March 23 meeting because the endorsement item had not been placed on the agenda; commissioners agreed to add it as an action item on next week's agenda so the county can formally consider a letter of endorsement and next steps for public outreach. The county staff will return the plan as an action item for formal consideration.
