Milton, Lebanon selectmen set meeting on MTP invasive plant

The European Naiad poses a serious threat to MTP. (Courtesy photo)

MILTON - The Milton New Hampshire Board of Selectmen will be hosting their counterparts from Lebanon for a combined meeting to discuss the use of herbicides to combat the invasive plant species, European Naiad on Monday at 6 p.m.

The meeting will take place at the Milton selectmen's quarters at Town Offices.

New Hampshire and Maine biologists have said that the invasive weed could threaten the lake's established plant and fish populations.
The most severely affected area of Milton Three Ponds so far is the Lebanon side of Northeast Pond just east of where the Salmon Falls River flows into it.
Northeast Pond has shallow areas far from shore that could easily hold the plants, which can grow to around seven feet.
European naiad was first discovered in Milton Three Ponds by an invasive plant spotter volunteer while snorkeling in Northeast Pond more than a year ago.
European naiad can overtake native lake habitats by shading and outcompeting ecologically valuable aquatic plants. A productive, one-acre infestation can generate tens of millions of seeds per season. Dense infestations can alter water chemistry and oxygen levels in the water which can impact other plants and fish.
Milton Three Ponds is currently home to varied fish stocks, including black crappie, rainbow trout, brown trout, chain pickerel, horn pout, white perch and smallmouth and largemouth bass.
The invasive plant had been documented previously in two New Hampshire water bodies, but populations declined on their own without management.
European naiad is an annual plant, which produces seeds on plant leaves that can easily be broken into fragments and carried to a new area.
"Even a paddle going through it could break off a fragment," biologists have said.