Sand Dam Reservoir Association Newsletter
January, 2018
Dear SDRA Members,
As President of SDRA, I am extremely pleased with the number of responses to the recent SDRA ballot received from dues paying members. There is great concern about our lake, and together we can make a difference. Working together is the key. Our water in our shared lake needs to be respected — and lake neighbors need to respect each landowner’s opinion. The elected Board is working to accomplish what is best for our lake — we will respect all opinions.
The SDRA Board, as you read below, is looking at a multi-plan approach to milfoil management. Using just the herbicide approach is only a short term and expensive control to curb our chronic problem. The suction harvester, the boat inspection program, hand harvesting, the use of Best Practice procedures to stop the use of fertilizers and composting at the water’s edge, diverting road run off, building buffer zones, and developing a Lake Smart Program are ALL important ways as we build our multi- plan approach.
I compare invasive weeds to developing cancer. To gain control, there is a need for the “bitter medicine” followed by a multi-planned healthy approach.
Don’t use excuses for working on OUR lake — there is a job for everyone!
Call, email or text with your questions.
Your neighbor,
Judy
Overview of the Late Autumn Ballot Regarding Possible Herbicide Application
In autumn, 2017, the executive board of Sand Dam Reservoir Association, gaining input from the Lake Management Committee, sought to formulate a series of strategies to mitigate the invasive weeds in Smith & Sayles Reservoir. We hired ESS to return to our lake, survey the 184 acres, determine changes that have occurred since our last survey in 2015, and share their recommendations.
You can see that report on the Lake Management page of our Sand Dam Reservoir Association website.
The SDRA Board of Directors then sought guidance from the membership as to whether the Association should look into herbicide application as a way to mitigate invasive milfoil and other invasive species. You received a ballot with the invitation to vote whether SDRA should or should not pursue the possibility of applying herbicide treatments to invasive weeds in Smith & Sayles Reservoir. Paper ballots were due to SDRA’s Post Office Box 284 by midnight on December 31, 2017.
On Wednesday, January 3, 2018, the executive board of SDRA met and opened the ballots. The results are below.
The Ballot Results
| Number of Ballots Received | Ballots in Favor of Pursuing Herbicide Application | Ballots Opposed to Pursuing Herbicide Application |
| 26 | 21 | 5 |
Possible Courses of Action/ Next Steps
The executive board of SDRA has outlined the next series of steps, based on the results of the herbicide application ballot and also continuing the board of directors’ plans for weed mitigation, 2017-2018, which was distributed to the membership in the December, 2017 newsletter. Please note: This list is a starting place. It will be adapted, updated, and modified as we receive feedback from the SDRA members in good standing and from peer-reviewed research about weed mitigation.
Planned Herbicide Application as Weed Mitigation Effort
- Form an herbicide application fundraising committee that is separate from the board
- Appoint a fundraising committee chair who informs the board about fundraising progress
- Survey membership for fundraising ideas and suggestions for involving more members in weed mitigation
- Update the GoFundMe site to reflect possible herbicide applicationI
- Get bids from all licensed herbicide applicators in the Chepachet, RI region
- Review ESS report for the optimum time to apply herbicides and other mitigation recommendations
- Protect no-herbicide zones as requested by abutting property owners
- Make a follow-up plan for continued weed mitigation after tentative herbicide treatment
- Respect dues-paying members who do not wish to have herbicide treatment adjacent to their property
Planned Non-Herbicide Weed Mitigation Efforts
- Continue to comply with DEM regulations regarding drawdown
- Form a non-herbicide application fundraising committee that is separate from the board
- Appoint a fundraising committee chair who informs the board about fundraising progress
- Survey membership for fundraising ideas and suggestions for involving more members in weed mitigation
- Plan for funds to support the suction harvester use
- Expand boat greeter program so more boaters who launch from the ramp are educated about spreading invasive weeds
- Write an early spring letter that emphasises low nutrient, low runoff yard maintenance to inhibit milfoil growth.
- Pursue a lake-based buffer program in conjunction with DEM
- Plan hand harvesting community events
- Research costs of hiring RI-based professional divers
- Respect dues-paying members who do wish to have herbicide treatment adjacent to their property
Sand Dam Reservoir Association 
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