Clear Lake vs. pondweed

<p>Especially clear water has spawned an outbreak of yet another bothersome plant growth in Clear Lake, making it difficult for boaters to navigate some areas and forcing homeowners to resort to herbicides.</p><p>Heading into the July 4th tourist bonanza, county and city officials have cleared the water around public boat ramps and popular beaches. But not everyone is pleases</p><p>“It's the worst I've ever seen,” said Brian Vincent, who has lived in Lake County for 40 years.</p><p>Vincent, who has a lakefront home north of Lakeport and races hydroplane boats, said the weeds are keeping his boat docked.</p><p>An aquatic plant called Sago pondweed is causing the trouble this year, forming a mat along the surface that can damage a boat's engine.</p><p>Vincent can afford to have his pondweed treated by herbicide contractors, he said, but not all his neighbors can, leaving stretches of danger zones on the lake for motor boats. County authorities said it costs about $1,000 per acre to spray the plants.</p><p>Much of the infestation has run its course and is dying, locals say. It will sink to the bottom as it decomposes over the next few weeks, but could be replaced by other odious plant life, as tends to happen in the big, ancient lake.</p><p>Clear Lake, believed to be the oldest natural lake in North America, is 68 square miles of nutrient rich, shallow water. That makes it the largest lake entirely within California.</p><p>Weed and algae overgrowth are common occurrences for a variety of reasons. This year's problem comes on the coattails of heavy spring rainfall that resulted in unusually clear water, said Carolyn Ruttan, the water resources department's invasive species program coordinator.</p><p>It's easy for sunlight to reach the bottom because the lake is, on average, just 24 feet deep, Ruttan said.</p><p>“That's why you get plants growing in this lake,” she said. There are at least 32 types, many of them unwanted weeds.</p><p>It's possible to control them, but not eradicate them, any more than it's possible to keep the 2.5 million year old lake from undergoing life cycle changes, Ruttan said.</p><p>Most lakes as old as Clear Lake would have died by now, but it has survived because ongoing volcanic activity keeps it from filling with sediment, she said.</p><p>Visitors arriving for the July 4 weekend festivities, including fireworks at Library Park in Lakeport, should not be bothered by the explosion of the Sago pond weed, but residents just north of town say they are suffering.</p><p>Dick Jones, owner of The Pit Stop, a lakefront diner and gas station north of town, said he has towed several boats out of the weeds in the past few weeks. </p><p>Aquatic weeds are tourism killers, Jones said.</p><p>Vincent and Jones believe the county should be responsible for abating all of the lake's weed and algae problems, which occur at regular intervals.</p><p>Last year, the nasty stench from a rotting blue green algae bloom put a damper on tourism for several weeks.</p><p>Lake County officials said eliminating the algae and weed growth is not feasible. “We just don't have the resources to spray the entire lake,” said Scott De Leon, director of the county water resources department.</p><p>Clearing the docking areas in Lakeport alone is costing about $11,000 he said. The county and affected cities are spending a little over $27,000 to clear public access areas, he said.</p><p>Many visitors were unaware Tuesday that there has been a problem.</p><p>“It's beautiful. We're having a great time,” said Peter and Helena Yoon of Manhattan Beach shortly after motoring up to a dock at Library Park with their two children.</p><p>They plan to return next year.</p><p>Melissa Fulton, chief executive officer of the Lake County Chamber of Commerce said people should focus at the lake's good aspects, not the bad.</p><p>“It's a by-product of being a natural, beautiful lake,” she said.</p>