Invasive reed target of treatments Tuesday at Minsi Lake

UPPER MOUNT BETHEL TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Officials on Tuesday will begin treating Minsi Lake to ward off an invasive species.

• Officials are treating Minsi Lake for an invasive species of reed
• The treatments start 9 a.m. Tuesday
• They’ll be using AquaNeat, an herbicide that purports to control almost 200 species of emerged weeds

“Phragmites, a recent colonizer at Minsi Lake, is considered an aquatic invasive species, which are aquatic plants and/or animals that have been introduced into waterways where they do not naturally occur,” according to a news release from Brittney Waylen, Northampton County’s deputy director of administration. “Since the 2020 refill of the lake following the dam rehabilitation and spillway reconstruction project, nearly 70 various-size stands of Phragmites totaling about two acres have been mapped along the shoreline at Minsi Lake.”

Starting at 9 a.m., officials from Princeton Hydro, a New Jersey-based engineering consultant, will treat the lake’s shoreline via airboat to tamp down invasive Phragmites, a genus of four species of large perennial reed grasses, according to the release. They’ll be using AquaNeat, an herbicide that purports to control almost 200 species of emerged weeds.

If left unchecked, the reeds “will become unmanageable,” officials said.

“Phragmites can form dense stands up to 15 feet to 20 feet tall that displace native vegetation and substantially alter habitats for native plant and animal species,” according to the release.

Some species of the reed are native to the U.S., but invasive European strains were probably introduced during the 1800s, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The impact can be severe, as the invasive strains can crowd out native species.

For more information on the program, residents can visit Friends of Minsi Lake Partnership’s plan.