Crews from SOLitude Lake Management work near the shoreline in the village of Bemus Point on Monday, distributing the herbicide ProcellaCOR. P-J photo by Jay Young

SOLitude Lake Management completed treatment of 86.4 acres of Chautauqua Lake with the herbicide ProcellaCOR on Monday.

The treatment had originally been scheduled for Wednesday of last week and was postponed due to high winds. The treatment area included areas in the village of Bemus Point, village of Lakewood, town of Ellery and town of Busti.

“Everything went very well today,” said Glenn Sullivan, Chautauqua Lake project manager from SOLitude. “The weather was perfect, we started around 7:30 (a.m.) with one boat down in the Lakewood area and the second boat went up to the Bemus area for the that treatment.”

Applications from six different municipalities were submitted to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, totaling more than 500 acres.

All of this season’s treatment applications were for the use of ProcellaCOR for the treatment of Eurasian watermilfoil.

“It is injected below the surface of the water,” Sullivan said. “The ProcellaCOR is very effective on Eurasian watermilfoil, and that was our target species. It is very low toxicity, it is actually one of few aquatic herbicides that the (Environmental Protection Agency) has deemed reduced risk. It is very selective on Eurasian watermilfoil, so the native plants that are growing at this time aren’t really affected by the ProcellaCOR.”

Sullivan said that SOLitude first began treating with ProcellaCOR two years ago in New Hampshire, and began using it in New York last year. Unlike herbicides that have been used in the past, ProcellaCOR does not have lasting water use restrictions.

Recreational use is only prohibited during a small window of time while treatment is occurring.