By Ken Jackson
Staff Writer

Ed Harris, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s lead invasive plant management biologist for the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, has an unenviable task over the next few weeks.

He and his staff will be culling a hydrilla and emergent habitant management plan to bring to the FWC’s interagency working group by Sept. 1. The hard part is that it has to make a lot of groups happy — spec fishermen, bass fisherman, duck hunters, bird watchers, airboaters and lake-adjacent property owners.

The plan also must take into account maintaining a suitable habitat for snail kite nesting, although that species is in the middle of its second banner year in a row as far as the number of active nests. The Kissimmee Chain of Lakes supports most of the state’s snail kite nesting, according to FWC species conservation coordinator Zach Welch.

Nearly 60 representatives of many of those groups flocked to the Osceola County Administration Building on Tuesday to give the FWC their input on the plan as part of a community forum.

“We want to address the public’s concerns about our plans for the next eight to 12 months,” Harris said at the meeting.

Topics included the level of hydrilla to spray for and how much of it to leave on lakes like East Lake Tohopekaliga, Tohopekaliga, Kissimmee, Cypress, Jackson and Hatchineha, creating an optimal spraying schedule to suit all the groups, and maintaining habitats for native fish, ducks and birds. Leaving more hydrilla, an invasive aquatic plant controllable by applying service herbicides, expands the habitat for snail kite and other wildlife.

“We know how to target the hydrilla, and where to treat it,” Harris said. “We want to maintain a measured approach in order to account for winds and cold winter weather.”

The amount of hydrilla on Lake Toho was a hot topic. The combination of a lack of cold weather last winter to kill off hydrilla and a distinctly lower amount of spraying this year for snail kite management has that lake at 55 percent coverage (20-40 percent is optimal). Local boater Mark Detwiler noted that number will be higher later this summer. He was concerned about how “small” the lake has been to fish.

“We’ll have a golf course out there,” he said, inquiring about follow-up spraying the commission plans to do following work done on the chain in February and March.

“We don’t want to be doing a high level of treatment in the heat of summer,” Harris said in response.

Other topics included the width of areas treated for watercraft navigation trails, done at 400 feet, a measurement that concerned a couple of audience members.

“We did them at that width in order to do them once and account for the traffic,” Harris said. “If you do them at 100 feet in January, by June they could be 3 feet.”

When the public input segment of the meeting concluded, Harris said the concerns raised would go a long way in helping form near-term strategies for the lakes.

“What I take from this is that everyone thinks we’ve struck a balance between hydrilla and hyacinth control and habitat for fish and wildlife,” he said. “Rest assured that for this particular year we will be able to take into account the best info we have and the budget we have, and present to you our plan.”

Before hearing from the audience, Harris and his staff outlined the work done in the first part of 2012, including highlighted areas for hydrilla management and spraying to combat other fauna.

For example, biologist Danielle Schobl noted that East Lake Toho had seen its first year ever of plant management, as public use areas were treated for Illinois pondweed in advance of Spring Fling.

Tim Coughlin, who deals with aquatic habitat restoration and enhancement, noted work with scientists at the University of Florida to form test plots for herbicides to treat for ludwig grandiflora on Toho and Kissimmee. A new bloom of the grass could invade native Kissimmee grass, and tests are ongoing to find blends that will eradicate the grandiflora without harming the Kissimmee grass.

Harris mentioned that the plan for hydrilla spraying would remain aggressive on lakes besides Lake Toho.

“We’re fighting hydrilla in areas not seen in this concentration since 1990,” he said.

The hydrilla might explain the recent jump in nests of snail kites, small birds, which feast on apple snails, small mollusks that eat hydrilla. Eighty now populate the chain, Welch said.

“Lake Toho is second in the state in nest success rate, and is experiencing possibly it’s highest success rate ever,” he said. “It hasn’t been as big as 2011, but the numbers are still good for this year.”