Flathead Lake flowering rush meetings planned

There is a public meeting scheduled regarding flowering rush in Flathead Lake.

It will be held from 3-7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 10 at the Polson Indian Senior Ciizens Center, which is located at 701 First Street East, next to the Western Building Center.

Discussion will be about the formation of a program to use annual herbicide treatments on flowering rush on the bed of Flathead Lake.

Flowering rush was found in Flathead Lake in 1964. It is now found in upper and lower Flathead and Clark Fork rivers and is now a concern downstream to the middle Columbia River.

The Salish Kootenai College Extension Program is preparing a “programmatic environmental assessment” on its proposal to implement the project, which proposes to initiate annual herbicide treatments for managing the invasive aquatic plant flowering rush on the bed of Flathead Lake over the next 10 years.

Herbicide applications would be made to flowering rush plants on the bed of the lake on the Flathead Reservation. Applications would be made to spots as small as 4 square feet up to several acres in size, according to the notice.

To review a draft of the environmental assessment or to comment on the project and activities, people have been asked to contact Virgil Dupuis by Jan. 10.

Dupuis can be reached by email at virgil_dupuis@skc.edu, by phone at 406-275-4899 or by mail to P.O. Box 70, Pablo, MT 59855.