JPA Eurasian Watermilfoil Management Training Video
Created by Jamie Dimick, Kingdom Access TV

Surveyor Management Protocols

• Be systematic, thorough, and persistent (at least once a month) in surveying your area
• Be sure to include the entire littoral zone out to 15 ft depth
• Become skilled at EWM identification
• If you find EWM or are not sure, contact your Lakeshore Section Coordinator (LSC) te get help with confirmation
• Obtain a marker buoy from your LSC
• Place buoy according to instructions
• Do not attempt to hand harvest unless you have SCUBA/SNUBA or snorkeling capabilities AND have been trained in EWM harvesting
• Communicate with your neighbors and other surveyors in your lake section to ensure complete monitoring coverage is regularly achieved

Lakeshore Section Coordinator Responsibilities

• Recruit and maintain a cadre of volunteer EWM surveyors sufficient to provide full coverage for your assigned lakeshore section
• Maintain a supply of JPA-provide buoys
• Assist surveyors in identification and confirmation of established EWM
• Provide buoys to surveyors for deployment whenever EWM is confirmed
• Report any confirmed EWM by email to the Harvesting Coordinator Jim Bernotas and the EWM Management Coordinator Barry Cahoon and include a description of the general location of the buoy placement
• Ensure the entire littoral zone (out to 15 ft. depth) adjacent to your assigned shoreline section receives full monitoring coverage on a frequency of about once a month.  EWM that may not have been visible can grow 2 - 3 ft in just a few weeks, reach the water surface and become vulnerable to watercraft induced fragmentation and spread. Ask the volunteer surveyors in your section to report to you when and what areas they have monitored
• If you have received training in EWM hand harvesting, and possess SCUB/SNUBA or snorkeling capabilities, you may assist Jim Bernotos or members of the JPA dive/harvesting crew in hand harvesting any discovered EWM

Marker Buoy Placement

• Each buoy consists of a float device, an approximately 15 ft. long section of nylon twine wrapped around a brick anchor
• Obtain a buoy from your LSC if you have found and confirmed a patch of EWM or even a single plant
• To deploy the buoy simply toss the brick and float and allow the twine to unroll off the brick as it sinks to the bottom.  This will ensure a minimum of slack developing in the twine thereby keeping the buoy in close proximity to the EWM location.  If the lake level rises, the buoy will rise up and roll additional twine off the anchor.  When placing the anchor, avoid tossing the brick directly onto the EWM plant or plants to prevent unnecessary fragmentation

Geolocation Protocols

• Once a newly established EWM plant or patch has been confirmed and a marker buoy placed, report the discovery by email to the Harvesting Coordinator Jim Bernotas and the EWM Management Coordinator Barry Cahoon and include a description of the general location of the buoy placement
• The Harvesting Coordinator will then place the location on the harvesting schedule.  At the time of harvesting, the EWM Management Coordinator or his designee with geolocate the site by capturing the lat-long coordinates by GPS
• The coordinates will then be transferred to the EWM Management Mapping Specialist, Rob Stewart at which time the data will be entered into the database and shown on the EWM management webmap

2025 divers harvesting Eurasian Watermilfoil

Hand Harvesting Protocols

• Participate in a JPA-sponsored training for EWM hand harvesting.  Better yet, assist someone with experience in hand harvesting once or twice before attempting it yourself
• Be certified and/or trained in SCUBA or SNUBA or be an experienced snorkelier before attempting hand harvesting
• Confirm that you have found EWM and not a native milfoil or other look-alike aquatic plant
• Be sure to have someone in the watercraft monitoring for other boats for safety
• Have a mesh bag for EWM collection and containment
• If possible, have a second diver to hold the mesh bag so you have two hands free to dig into the lake bed and bring up the entire root ball without breaking off and leaving any portion of the root behind
• Take utmost care to not break off any portion of the stem or branches which can result in fragmentation-induced proliferation
• Have the person on the surface monitoring for boat activity also vigilantly watch for the release of any floating EWM fragments and be prepared to collect with a capture net
• Retain the marker buoy in place after completion of harvesting in case it is decided to follow up the harvesting with placement of a benthic mat

Preparing mesh bag for harvesting