Bottomland Vegetation Treatment Taking Place Week of 6/18/23

The week of June 18, 2023, herbicides will be applied to the Wixom and Sanford lakebottoms under the jurisdiction of the Wixom Lake Improvement Board (WLIB) and Sanford Lake Improvement Board (SLIB). The primary goal is large-scale management of the young trees that started growing on the lakebottoms after the May 2020 flood.
Application Areas:

• Wixom Lake application area: East of the M-30 bridge upstream to the Hay Township line
• Sanford Lake application area: Jerome Township

The more leaves the trees have, the better the herbicides will control them. For that reason, the public is asked not to mow the Sanford and Wixom bottomlands until after August 1, 2023. This will give the herbicides time to migrate to the tree roots and yield the best control results. The exception is controlling trees in front of private seawalls where herbicide will not be applied.

Herbicides
The herbicides include two active ingredients: triclopyr and imazapyr. Both herbicides work by absorbing through the leaves of woody plants and migrating down to the roots, killing the entire plant. Both herbicides are registered for control of terrestrial and aquatic vegetation in the State of Michigan. In the interest of avoiding unintended damage to woody plants on private property around the lakes, herbicides will not be applied within 80 feet of the original edges of the lakes at normal summer water levels (e.g., areas in front of private seawalls).
About WLIB and SLIB

• “Part 309” lake improvement boards that are empowered under State of Michigan law to perform lake improvement projects to benefit users of a natural or man-made lake
• Projects may include, but are not limited to, aquatic nuisance vegetation control, improvement of boating, fishing and swimming, improvements that increase property values around the lake and other such work. Townships have similar authority under Public Act 188, if they choose to use that authority

FLTF is consulting with SLIB and WLIB, in addition to the townships around the lakes on the management of trees and other vegetation growing on the exposed lake bottomlands.

Past Herbicide Treatment
In 2022, WLIB and Edenville Township engaged vegetation management consultants from Progressive AE and PLM to apply herbicide to test plots within Wixom and Sanford lakes. After evaluating the test results and considering the additional vegetation growing period since the tests, in 2023 WLIB has chosen to carry out a wider use of herbicides in late June 2023 on the Wixom Lake bottomlands. SLIB will also carry out herbicide applications.

​What will be done with the dead trees?
Efforts will be made to remove most of the remaining dead trunks prior to refilling the lake. However, certain (deeper) areas, dead trees may remain standing to serve as fish habitat pending discussions with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. However, it is likely that much of the dead, treated, material will not be removed this year. Keep in mind, that management of nuisance woody vegetation is not a one-year effort, it is a multi-year effort with the ultimate goal of the bottomlands being ready for re-filling upon the completion of the dam in a few years.