Water Chestnut Management Program
2002
Summary of the
Third Year Efforts of the
New York State Canal
Corporation in the Lake Champlain Basin
Funding provided by the
New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation
and the New York State Canal Corporation
Final Report
December 2002
Acknowledgement
The activities identified
in this report were funded by
the New York State Department
of Environmental Conservation
(NYSDEC) and the New York
State Canal Corporation (NYSCC).
The publication of this report
does not signify that the
contents necessarily reflect
the views of the State of
Vermont or the State of New
York.
Introduction
Since 1982, over 3 million
dollars has been spent to
control the advance of water
chestnuts (Trapa natans)
in Lake Champlain. With
limited funding, over the past
two years, NYSDEC and NYSCC
have spent over $300,000 in
the control of this invasive
weed. Water Chestnut, an
aggressive, aquatic plant that
is native to Europe and Asia
was introduced to New York
State in the late 1800’s.
The water chestnut infestation
spread rapidly northward in
the Hudson River Basin and
into the southern end of Lake
Champlain. The continued
northward advance of the
infestation prompted a renewed
control effort by both the New
York State Department of
Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC)
and State of Vermont
Department of Environmental
Conservation (VTDEC) in the
early 1990’s on Lake
Champlain.
The water chestnut plants
are 90% water and decompose
quickly once harvested with
the exception of the seedpods
or "nuts" which are
covered in a tough outer
coating. The outer coating
becomes more resilient as the
nuts mature and drop from the
plant to the bed of the water
body to sprout into a new
plant the following season. It
is not uncommon to see a dozen
or more nuts produced by one
plant making the job of
controlling this prolific
species more difficult.
Harvesting activities are
generally of two types,
mechanical and hand
harvesting.
Most of the harvesting done
by the NYSCC has utilized a
mechanical harvester. The
harvester cuts through the
dense beds of the plant,
removing the floating mass of
plant material by cutting the
shoots attached to a previous
years nuts buried in the
sediment floor. The weed mass
is collected by the mechanical
floating harvester and
transported to the shore for
disposal. Hand harvesting is
by hand pulling and collection
of the plant. This technique
is normally used in very
shallow water or areas with
sparse growth. This can be
accomplished by using divers
in deeper water.
Harvesting is typically
scheduled for the middle part
of the plant’s growing
season. This is to prevent the
nuts from maturing and
detaching from the plant. Care
is taken not to start the
harvesting too early to
prevent the mature nuts on the
water body floor from
re-germinating after the weed
canopy above is removed.
In 1993 an application was
made jointly by the NYSDEC and
VTDEC to the Adirondack Park
Agency (APA) to allow for the
collection of water chestnuts
in Lake Champlain with
disposal in upland locations
in Vermont. In August of 1994,
Project Permit 94-208 was
issued for a seven-year period
for harvesting activities in
the Lake Champlain Basin. In
July 2001, APA granted a new
permit (2001-47) for a 10-year
continuation of hand and
mechanical harvest control
program of water chestnuts in
the southern basin of Lake
Champlain.
Description of Calendar Year
2002 Activities
 The
2002 Weed Harvesting program
for water chestnuts started in
early August and continued
until late September. The
areas harvested by the NYSCC
in 2002 totaled approximately
90 acres (right) compared with
92 acres harvested the prior
year.
The capacity of the
harvester unit is
approximately 450 cubic feet
or 16.7 cubic yards. Based on
calculations, the average load
contains a wet volume of about
half or 8.2 cubic yards per
load.
The weed harvesting for
2002 was 905 loads compared
with 781 for the prior year.
The wet volume for 2002
calculates to 7421 cubic
yards. Costs including
equipment rental and fuel is
$189.67/load or a total cost
of $23.13/cubic yard or
$1905.17
per acre. This is an
increase of 100% compared to
the prior year. This increase
primarily occurred since new
equipment was purchased to
improve the transport of
harvested materials to the
shore. Labor cost increased
slightly due to the learning
curve of new equipment and
inadequate staffing for the
new equipment. Labor cost was
$53.70/load compared to
$48.99/load in 2001,
$6.55/cubic yard to
$5.97/cubic yard in 2001 or
$539.36/acre harvested
compared to $417.24/acre
harvested. Fuel costs were
$0.0735/cubic yard. See
Table 1 (35Kb PDF)
Observations
During the 2002 activities,
there were operational
difficulties observed that
should be addressed for the
continued success and
expansion of the harvesting
activities in the south end of
Lake Champlain.
First is the need for
additional disposal sites
closer to the harvesting
activities. Permission was
obtained to use private lands
for disposal of the harvested
material, but only ½ day of
disposing was done on this
property. This was due to the
fact that the landowner wanted
the material stockpiled and
then spread and tilled into
the land only once or twice,
but the permit required a
daily spreading and tilling of
the material. Additional sites
are needed in order to allow
additional loads of harvested
material to be transported.
This will maximize
productivity in the harvesting
activities. Permitting
activities associated with
application of the weed
material onto adjacent
farmland should continue to be
initiated early in the
planning process, since the
properties are within the APA.
Second is the need for
additional staff and a
dedicated crew to operate the
harvester and ancillary
equipment. The operation of
the harvester is quite
involved due to the need to
properly load the harvester
conveyor, preventing the cut
weeds from becoming dislodged.
The ability to accomplish this
is gained by on-the-job
training of the operators. If
weeds escape during the
harvesting operation they can
drift in the water body and
possibly root again in other
locations, depending on the
time of season. The training
gained from the previous year
operation is not passed on
through the use of seasonally
hired operators.
Third is the need for
different land transport
equipment. The trucks
currently being used are
smaller dump trucks but can
only handle one harvester
load. The transporter, which
works in conjunction with the
harvester, holds two loads.
Therefore, two dump trucks are
required for each load. Also,
the current travel distance is
23.5 miles round-trip takes
considerable time for the
trucks to return to the
loading site. While the
transporter is quicker in
getting harvested material
from the harvester to the
shore quickly, there is a
delay in unloading the weeds
from the transporter.
Recommendations
With the continuation of
the harvesting program in
2003, the following two
options appear to be the most
viable for increased
production and effectiveness
of the program.
Option 1: Increasing
of the budget for harvesting
to include additional
personnel for the harvester,
transporter and trucks for the
2003 calendar year, which
would increase production.
Option 2: Harvesting
operations continue to be
funded at least at the current
level as they were for the
calendar year 2002. This
option will limit the area of
harvesting to approximately
the same as accomplished this
year. Weather and lake
conditions will determine if
extended operations will be
warranted.
Option 3: Strongly
look at adjoining landowner
site for disposal of the
harvested material in order to
efficiently harvest the weed.
Once we have agreement from
the landowners, start the APA
permitting process early.
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